LIBRARY 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


THE   HOOSIERS 


National  Sftutiies  in  American  3Letter0. 

GEORGE  EDWARD  WOOD  BERRY,  EDITOR. 


OLD  CAMBRIDGE. 

By  THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON. 

BROOK   FARM. 

By  LINDSAY  SWIFT. 

THE    HOOSIERS. 

By  MEREDITH  NICHOLSON. 

IN   PREPARATION. 

THE  CLERGY   IN    AMERICAN    LIFE  AND 
LETTERS. 

By  THE  REV.  DANIEL  DULANY  ADDISON. 

THE  AMERICAN   HISTORICAL   NOVEL. 
By  PAUL  LEICESTER  FORD. 

THE    KNICKERBOCKERS. 

By  THE  REV.  HENRY  VAN  DYKE,  D.D. 

SOUTHERN    HUMORISTS. 
By  JOHN  KENDRICK  BANGS. 

FLOWER   OF   ESSEX. 
By  THE  EDITOR. 

Others  to  be  announced. 


THE    ROOSTERS 


BY 

MEREDITH    NICHOLSON 


OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY 

OF 

C^UFOnN\<^ 


|90tft 

THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON :  MACMILLAN  AND  CO.,  LTD. 
IQOO 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYRIGHT,  1900, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Ncrtoooto 

J.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  -  Berwick  &  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


2To  tfje  jflfUmorg  of 
CALEB    MILLS 

SOMETIME  PROFESSOR  IN  WABASH   COLLEGE 
THE  FRUITS   OF  WHOSE  ENLIGHTENMENT,   FORESIGHT 

AND  COURAGE 

ARE    AN    ENDURING    HERITAGE 
TO  THE  PEOPLE  OF  INDIANA 


210384 


PREFACE 

THESE  pages  represent  an  effort  to  give  some 
hint  of  the  forces  that  have  made  for  cultiva- 
tion in  Indiana.  While  the  immediate  purpose 
has  been  an  examination  of  the  State's  per- 
formance in  literature,  it  has  seemed  proper 
to  approach  the  subject  with  a  slight  review 
of  Indiana's  political  and  social  history.  Owing 
to  limitations  of  space,  much  is  suggested  merely 
which  it  would  be  profitable  to  discuss  at  length. 
It  is  hoped  that  such  matters  as  racial  influ- 
ences, folk-speech,  etc.,  which  are  but  lightly 
touched  here,  may  appeal  to  others  who  will 
make  them  the  subject  of  more  searching  in- 
quiry. Only  names  that  have  seemed  most  sig- 
nificant are  included;  many  creditable  writers 
are  necessarily  omitted. 

I  take  pleasure  in  acknowledging  my  indebt- 
edness to  Dr.  Edward  Eggleston,  Miss  Anna 
Nicholas,  and  Mr.  IVJerrill  Moores  for  their 


viii  PREFACE 

courteous  responses  to  many  requests  for  in- 
formation. Miss  May  Louise  Shipp  gave  me 
access  to  papers  relating  to  her  kinswoman, 
Mrs.  Dumont,  which  I  could  not  have  seen 
but  for  her  kindness.  Miss  Eliza  G.  Browning, 
the  Public  Librarian  of  Indianapolis,  Mr.  H.  S. 
Wedding,  the  Librarian  of  Wabash  College, 
and  Mr.  Charles  R.  Dudley,  of  the  Denver 
Library,  were  most  generous  and  indulgent  on 
my  behalf. 

M.  N. 
DENVER,  July,  1900. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

PAGE 

INDIANA  AND  HER  PEOPLE  i 


CHAPTER  II 
THE  RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE  DIALECT 

The  Word  "  Hoosier  " 29 

Pioneer  Difficulties 36 

The  Dialect 45 

CHAPTER  III 
BRINGERS  OF  THE  LIGHT 

Religious  Influences 63 

Early  Illiteracy 70 

Caleb  Mills 79 

Julia  L.  Dumont  and  Catharine  Merrill     ....  89 

CHAPTER  IV 

AN  EXPERIMENT  IN  SOCIALISM 

s»jk 

New  Harmony 98     \ 

Robert  Dale  Owen  and  William  Maclure  .         .         .         .  101 

Thomas  Say  and  the  Scientists  ......  104    • 

ix  — ^J 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  V 
THE  HOOSIER  INTERPRETED 

PACK 

Edward  Eggleston 134 

James  Whitcomb  Riley .156 

CHAPTER  VI 

CRAWFORDSVILLE 

"  The  Hoosier  Athens  " 177 

Lew  Wallace 180 

Maurice  Thompson 199 

Mary  H.  Krout  and  Caroline  V.  Krout      .         .         .         .212 

CHAPTER  VII 
"OF  MAKING  MANY  BOOKS  THERE  is  NO  END" 

Indiana  a  Point  of  Departure 214 

Fiction 217 

History  and  Politics 226 

Miscellaneous 237 

CHAPTER  VIII 
AN  INDIANA  CHOIR 

Early  Writers 244 

Forceythe  Willson  and  Elizabeth  Con  well  Willson     .         .256 

Later  Poets 265 

The  Hoosier  Landscape 269 

INDEX 273 


THE   HOOSIERS 


CFTHE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


CHAPTER  I 

INDIANA  AND   HER  PEOPLE 

THE  rise  of  Indiana  as  an  enlightened 
commonwealth  has  been  accompanied  by  phe- 
nomena of  unusual  interest  and  variety,  and 
whatever  contributions  the  State  may  make  to 
the  total  of  national  achievement  in  any  de- 
partment of  endeavor  are  to  be  appraised  in 
the  light  of  her  history  and  development.  The 
origin  of  the  beginners  of  the  State,  the  influ- 
ences that  wrought  upon  them,  the  embarrass- 
ments that  have  attended  the  later  generations 
in  their  labors,  become  matters  of  moment  in 
any  inquiry  that  is  directed  to  their  intellectual 
history.  It  is  not  of  so  great  importance  that  a 
few  individuals  within  a  State  shall,  from  time 
to  time,  show  talent  or  genius,  as  that  the  gen- 
eral level  of  cultivation  in  the  community  shall 
be  continually  raised.  Where,  as  in  Indiana,  the 
appearance  of  artistic  talent  follows  naturally  an 
intellectual  development  that  uplifts  the  whole, 


2  THE  HOOSIERS 

the  condition  presented  is  at  once  interesting 
and  admirable.  Owing  to  a  misapprehension 
of  the  State's  social  history,  an  exaggerated 
importance  has  been  given  to  the  manifesta- 
tions of  creative  talent  perceptible  in  Indiana, 
the  assumption  being  in  many  quarters  that  the 
Hoosier  Commonwealth  is  in  some  way  set 
apart  from  her  neighbors  by  reason  of  the 
uncouthness  and  ignorance  of  the  inhabitants ; 
and  the  word  "  Hoosier  "  has  perhaps  been  un- 
fortunate as  applied  to  Indianians  in  that  it  has 
sometimes  been  taken  as  a  synonym  for  boor- 
ishness  and  illiteracy.  The  Indiana  husband- 
men, even  in  the  pioneer  period,  differed  little 
or  not  at  all  from  the  settlers  in  other  terri- 
torial divisions  of  the  West  and  Southwest ;  and 
the  early  Indiana  town  folk  were  the  peers  of 
any  of  their  fellows  of  the  urban  class  in  the 
Ohio  Valley. 

The  Indianians  came  prima£il)^of^jxierican 
stock,  and  they  have  been  influenced  jmich  Iggs 
than  the— majority  of  thek^neighbors  in  other 
states  by  the  currents  of  alien  migration  that 
have  flowed  around  and  beyond  them.  The 
frontiersmen,  who  carried  the  rifle  and  the  axe 


INDIANA   AND    HER   PEOPLE  3 

to  make  way  for  the  plough,  were  brave,  hardy, 
and  intelligent;  and  those  who  accompanied 
them  and  became  builders  of  cities  and  framers 
and  interpreters  of  law,  were  their  kinsmen,  and 
possessed  the  natural  qualities  and  the  cultiva- 
tion that  would  have  made  them  conspicuous 
anywhere.  The  Indianians  remained  in  a  strik- 
ing degree  the  fixed  population  of  the  territory 
that  fell  to  them.  They  were  sustained  and 
lifted  by  religion  through  all  their  formative 
years,  and  when  aroused  to  the  importance  of 
education  were  quick  to  insure  intelligence  in 
their  posterity.  The  artistic  impulse  appeared 
naturally  in  later  generations.  The  value  of  the 
literature  produced  in  the  State  may  be  debat- 
able, but  there  is  no  just  occasion  for  surprise 
that  attention  to  literary  expression  has  been  so 
general. 

Indiana  has  always  lain  near  trif  nirrpnts  pf 
national  life,  and  her  beginnings  were  joined 
to  the  larger  fortunes  of  the  national  destiny. 
Three  flags  have  been  emblems  of  government 
in  her  territory,  and  wars  whose  principal  inci- 
dents occurred  far  from  the  western  wilderness 
played  an  important  part  in  her  history.  Early 


4  THE  HOOSIERS 

in  the  eighteenth  century  the  "prennh  Denied 
on  the  Wabash,  which  was  an  essential  link  in 
the  chain  of  communication  between  the  settle- 
ments of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  Great  Lakes 
and  those  of  the  Lower  Mississippi;  and  the 
coureurs  des  bois,  as  they  guided  their  frail 
navies  up  and  down  the  stream,  or  sang  their 
chansons  de  voyage  as  they  lay  in  lonely  camps, 
gave  the  first  color  of  romance  to  the  Hoosier 
country.  The  treaty__sjgnec[_at^£aris,  February 
10,  1763,  ended  Frenchdominion  and  brought 
British  rule.  The  American  Revolution  made 
itself  felLmi  the  Wabash  when,-  in  1 779,  George 
Rogers  Clark  effected  the  capture  of  Fort  Vin- 
cennes  from  a  British  commander.  The  first 
territorial  governor  of  Indiana  became  the  ninth 
president  of  the  United  States  after  the  rollick- 
ing hard  cider  campaign  of  "Tippecanoe  and 
Tyler  too  "  ;  and  when,  years  afterward,  Ben- 
jamin Harrison,  his  grandson,  was  elected 
twenty-third  president,  the  bonds  between  State 
and  Nation  were  close  and  strong.  Indi- 
ana valiantly  defended  herself  against  the 
Indians  in  the  War  of  1812 ;  she  sent  five  regi- 
ments to  the  Mexican  War,  equipped  208,300 


INDIANA  AND   HER   PEOPLE  5 

volunteers  for  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and 
7300  for  the  war  with  Spain.  Slavery  was  an 
issue  on  Indiana  soil  long  before  the  North- 
westjrejrritpry  had  been  divided.  At  a  conven- 
tion held  at  Vincennes  in  1802,  a  year  and  a 
half  after  the  organization  of  Indiana  Territory, 
a  memorial  was  sent  to  the  National  Congress 
asking  that  the  antislavery  proviso  in  the  ordi- 
nance of  1787  be  repealed,  and  slavery  was 
thereafter  a  potent  influence  in  territorial  poli- 
tics until  the  admission  of  Indiana,  as  a  free 
state,  in  I8I6.1 

The  victories  of  George  Rogers  Clark  were 
not  only  of  great  importance  in  determining 
the  future  political  relations  of  the  Northwest 
Territory,  but  they  defined  the  character  of  the 
population  that  should  dominate  in  the  region 
he  conquered.  The  Ohio  was  the  highway  that 
led  into  the  new  world,  and  the  first  comers  to 
Indiana  in  the  years  immediately  following  the 
Revolution  were  mainly  drawn  either  directly 
from  Pennsylvania,  the  Carolinas,  or  Virginia,  or/ 
were  of  that  fascinating  band  of  hunters  and 
frontiersmen  of  similar  origin,  who  had  only 

1  Dunn's  "  Indiana,"  p.  302  et  seq. 


6  THE   HOOSIERS 

a  .few  years  earlier  begun  the  redemption  of 
Tennessee  and  Kentucky  from  savagery.  Ken- 
tucky was  a  temporary  resting-place  for  many 
j  who  later  drifted  West  and  Northwest;  and 
[their  descendants,  markedly  of  ScotcMrish 
origin,  are  still  clearly  denned  in  Indiana. 
Philadelphia  and  Charleston  were  the  two 
ports  to  which  these  Presbyterian  Irish  came 
in  greatest  numbers  in  the  early  years  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  They  at  once  left  the 
seaboard  settlements  and  spread  along  the 
Alleghanies,  the  Pennsylvanians  moving  south- 
ward until  they  met  their  Carolina  brethren, 
when  the  united  stream  swept  with  fresh 
strength  boldly  into  the  Ohio  Valley.  Emigra- 
tion from  the,.,  north  _of ^Ireland  "  waxed  and 
wane^,^say,sj;^^gIeston^Iia^4±i^gTeat  Irish 
linen  industry  of  the  last  century  declined  or 
prospered?7"  Some  of  these  people  were  steady 
and  thrifty  ;  others  were  reckless  and  adven- 
turous. The  feeft&er  lif&.affqrded_,an-ou^et  for 
theijLwild-spirjts,  and  Indian  wars  and  the  hunting 
of  big  game  were  their  congenial  employments. 
The  Gemmns,  also  derived  from  Pennsylvania 

1  Preface  to  "  The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,"  Library  Edition. 


INDIANA  AND   HER   PEOPLE  7 

and  the  Carolinas,  joined  the  westward  stream  ; 
the  En^iishjJ^JDiitch^and .^he^Swiss  added  to 
it  in  varying  degree,  but  the  North-Irish  element, 
dating  from  the  earliest  settlement,  was  long 
potent  in  politics,  society,  and  religion,  and  be- 
came a  most  important  factor  in  Indiana  history. 
Northern  Indiana  was  settled  much  more 
slowly  than  the  southern  half  of  the  State, 
owing  primarily  to  the  fierce  resistance  of  the 
Miami  Confederacy,  which  barred  ingress  by 
way  of  the  lakes,  rivers,  and  portages,  and 
defeated  successive  armies  that  were  sent 
against  it.  When  the  way  was  opened,  the 
Middle  States  and  New  England  slowly  con- 
tributed to  the  population.  Many  of  these 
immigrants  paused  first  in  the  Western  Reserve 
of  Ohio,  and  a  smaller  proportion  in  Michigan. 
ItJ.s__a_gtuestion  for  the  scieniists_whether  the 
differ ences_still  observable  between  the  people 
of  the  jnorthern  prairie  region  in  Judiana  and 
those  of  the  woodland  areas  —  differences  of 
thriftj^energy,  and  initiative1  —  are  not_due  as 
much  to  natural  conditions  as  to  racial^-influ- 
ences ;  and  they  may  also  have  an  explanation 

1  McCulloch's  "  Men  and  Measures,"  p.  78.  ^ 


8  THE  HOOSIERS 

of  the  fact  that  Indiana's  literary  activity  has 
been  observed  principally  in  the  southern  half 
of  the  State,  below  a  line  drawn  through  Craw- 
fordsville.  The  seniority  of  the  southern  settle- 
ments is  not  a  wholly  satisfactory  solution,  and 
the  difference  in  antecedents  invites  speculation. 
It  happened  fortunately  that  the  worst  ele- 
ment contributed  to  the  population  of  Indiana 
and  Illinois  in  early  years  —  known  as  "jpoor 
whites "  ;-^was  the  __jeast__  permanent.  Dr. 
Eggleston  describes  them  as  "  a  semi-nomadic 
people,  descendants  of  the  colonial  bond- 
servants,"1 who  moved  on  in  large  numbers  to 
Missouri  so  early  as  1845,  and  tiience-f-rom  the 
famous  Pike_County  scattered  widely,  appearing 
finally  in  California,  where  Bret  Harte  took  note 
of  them.  Professor  Fiske  in  his  account  of  the 
dispersion  of  these  people2  does  not  mention 
Indiana  as  one  of  their  outlets,  and  the  State's 
proportion  was  unquestionably  small.  Romance 
has  not  attached  to  them  where  they  linger  in 
Southern  Indiana,  although  they  are  of  the  same 
strain  as  their  kindred  at  the  south  who  have 

1  Preface  to  "The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,"  Library  Edition. 

2  "  Old  Virginia  and  Her  Neighbors,"  II,  320. 


INDIANA  AND  HER   PEOPLE  9 

so  often  delighted  the  readers  of  fiction.  By  way 
of  illustration  it  may  be  said  that  in  the  hills 
of  Brown  County  the  traveller  passes  here  and 
there  a  rude  wagon  drawn  by  oxen.  A  dusty 
native  walks  beside  the  team,  and  seated  on  the 
floor  of  the  wagon  is  an  old  grandmother, 
smoking  a  clay  pipe  with  great  contentment. 
The  same  picture  may^be_met  with  in  the  Ken- 
tucky  and  Tennessee  mountains,  but  with  the 
difference  that  in  those  regions  the  story-tellers 
have  woven  the  spell  of  romance  about  the  hill 
folk,  whereas  in  Indiana  similar  characters  are 
looked  upon  as  ugly  and  uninteresting. 

The  rural  and  urban  classes  produced  a  first 
generation  that  realized  a  type  drawing  strength 
from  both  farm  and  town  and  destined  to  steady 
improvement  throughout  the  century.  New 
people  poured  in  from  the  Eastern  States  and 
from  Europe ;  but  in  no  old  community  of  the 
seaboard  has  loftier  dignity  been  conferred  by 
long  residence  or  pioneer  ancestry  than  in 
Indiana.  This  pride  was  brought  in  more  par- 
ticularly from  the  Southeast,  and  there  are  still 
communities  in  which  the  stranger  will  be  sensi- 
ble of  it.  The  native  Americans  of  Indiana  have 


IO  THE  HOOSIERS 

continued  the  dominant  element  to  a  greater 
extent  than  in  most  Northern  States,  74  per 
cent  of  the  total  population  in  1890  consisting 
of  natives;  20  per  cent  of  natives  of  other 
States;  while  the  foreign-born  population  com- 
prised only  6  per  cent  of  the  total.1  In  the 
larger  cities,  as  Indianapolis,  Evansville,  and 
Fort  Wayne,  the  Germans  had  an  important 
part  from  the  beginning,  and  the  Irish  were 
well  distributed ;  but  before  the  Scandinavians 
and  Slavs  had  begun  to  seek  homes  in  America, 
the  land  values  in  Indiana  had  so  appreciated 
that  this  class  of  immigrants  could  find  no  foot- 
ing. The  centre  of  population  in  the  United 
States,  which  lay  just  east  of  Baltimore  in  the 
first  decade  of  the  century,  moved  gradually 
westward,  until,  in  the  last  decade,  it  lay  in 
Indiana  at  a  point  sixty-five  miles  south  of 
Indianapolis. 

The  older  Indiana  towns  enjoyed  in  their 
beginnings  all  the  benefits  that  may  be  bestowed 
upon  new  communities  by  a  people  of  good  social 
antecedents.  Many  of  these  towns  have  lost 
their  prestige,  owing  to  changed  political  or  com- 

1  Statistical  Atlas,  U.  S.  Census,  1890,  p.  24. 


INDIANA  AND   HER  PEOPLE  II 

mercial  conditions  ;  the  departed  glory  of  some 
of  them  is  only  a  tradition  among  the  elders ; 
but  the  charm  of  many  remains.  Indiana,  as 
Territory  and  State,  has  had  three  political  capi- 
tals, Vincennes  and  Corydon  having  enjoyed 
the  distinction  before  Indianapolis  finally  at- 
tained it.  Vincennes,  however,  refused  to  fall 
with  her  political  dethronement,  but  built  upon 
her  memories,  and  became  "  no  mean  city."  In 
1847  tne  railway  connecting  Madison  with 
Indianapolis  was  completed.  Madison  was  thus 
made  the  gateway  of  the  State,  and  one  of  the 
most  important  shipping  points  on  the  Ohio,  with 
daily  steam  packet  to  Cincinnati  and  Louisville  ; 
but  this  prosperity  was  only  temporary,  for  east 
and  west  lines  of  railway  soon  drew  the  traffic 
away  from  the  river.  Madison  retains  its  dig- 
nity in  spite  of  reverses,  and  is  marked  by  an  air 
of  quaint  gravity.  It  may  be  called  picturesque 
without  offence  to  the  inhabitants,  who  rejoice 
in  its  repose  and  natural  beauty,  and  do  not 
complain  because  their  wharves  are  not  so  busy 
as  they  used  to  be.  The  social  life  there  had  a 
distinction  of  its  own,  which  has  not  vanished, 
though  the  names  identified  with  the  town's  fame 


12  THE   HOOSIERS 

—  Lanier^  Hendricks,  Bright,  King,  and  Mar- 
shall—  have  slowly  disappeared,  and  few  of  the 
old  regime  remain.  The  juxtaposition  of  Ken- 
tucky was  not  without  an  influence  in  the  years 
of  the  town's  ascendancy,  and  there  was  no  little 
sympathy  with  Southern  political  ideas  in  the 
antebellum  days. 

Brookville  is  another  town  which,  like  Madi- 
son, sent  forth  many  men  to  bring  fame  to  other 
communities.  It  lies  in  the  White  Water  Valley, 
amid  one  of  the  loveliest  landscapes  in  all 
Hoosierdom.  The  Wallaces,  the  Nobles,  and 
the  Rays  were  identified  with  the  place,  and  each 
of  these  families  gave  a  governor  to  the  State. 
Abram  A.  Hammond,  still  another  governor, 
lived  there  for  a  short  time,  as  did  James  B. 
Eads,  the  distinguished  engineer,  who  was 
a  native  of  Lawrenceburg ;  and  William  M. 
Chase,  the  artist,  also  a  native  Hoosier,  is  on 
Brookville's  list  of  notables.  John  D.  Rowland 
and  his  brother,  Livingston,  lived  there  before 
their  removal  to  Indianapolis,  where  the  former 
was  one  of  the  most  cultivated  men  of  his  day, 
and  the  latter  a  creditable  judge,  and  a  wit 
much  quoted  by  his  contemporaries.  Centerville 


INDIANA  AND   HER  PEOPLE  13 

lives  principally  in  its  memories,  having  been 
the  home  of  the  Mortons,  and  of  others  who 
attained  distinction.  The  removal  of  the  seat  of 
Wayne  County  to  Richmond  dealt  the  town  a 
blow  from  which  it  has  never  recovered,  though 
it  shares  with  its  successful  rival  in  the  rep- 
utation which  the  county  enjoys  for  the  culti- 
vation of  its  people.  The  family  of  Robert 
Underwood  Johnson  was  prominent  in  Wayne 
County ;  and  though  the  poet  and  editor  was  not 
born  there,  he  lived  in  the  county  from  early 
infancy  until  his  graduation  in  1871  from  Earl- 
ham  College,  whose  seat  is  Richmond.  His 
cousin,  Mrs.  Alice  Williams  Brotherton,  the 
author  of  two  volumes  of  verse,  and  a  contribu- 
tor to  the  periodicals,  lived  as  a  young  woman 
at  Cambridge,  in  the  same  county.  Fort  Wayne 
has  always  stood  a  little  apart  from  the  capital 
and  the  other  towns  lying  nearer  the  Ohio.  This 
has  been  due  to  its  geographical  position  and 
direct  railway  connection  with  Chicago  and  the 
seaboard  cities.  Socially  and  commercially  it 
has  not  been  so  intimately  related  to  the  capital 
as  most  of  the  other  Indiana  towns;  but 
it  was  an  important  centre,  with  unmistakable 


14  THE  HOOSIERS 

metropolitan  airs  almost  as  soon  as  Indianapolis. 
Fort  Wayne's  list  of  distinguished  citizens  has 
included  Hugh  McCulloch,  a  native  of  Maine, 
who  was  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  under  two 
presidents,  and  Jesse  Lynch  Williams,  of  North 
Carolina  Quaker  stock,  who  was  prominently 
identified  with  canal  and  railroad  building  in 
Indiana.  Mr.  Williams  was  a  leader  in  good 
works  throughout  his  long  life.  Mr.  McCulloch 
wrote  "  Men  and  Measures,"  a  volume  of 
memoirs,  and  his  family  has  produced  a  poet. 
A  grandson  and  namesake  of  Mr.  Williams  is 
the  author  of  several  volumes  of  fiction. 

Lafayette  is  one  of  the  most  attractive  of 
Indiana  cities,  fortunate  in  its  natural  setting 
and  in  the  friendliness  of  its  people  to  all 
good  endeavors.  Purdue  University,  the  state 
school  of  technology,  which  is  situated  there, 
is  not  diligent  in  the  sciences  to  the  neglect 
of  the  arts.  Roswell  Smith  (1829-1892),  the 
founder  of  the  Century  Magazine,  practised 
law  for  twenty  years  at  Lafayette.  Terre 
Haute  has  been  the  home  of  distinguished 
politicians  rather  than  of  famous  literary  folk ; 
but  Richard  W.  Thompson,  who  became  Secre- 


INDIANA  AND   HER   PEOPLE  15 

tary  of  the  Navy  in  President  Hayes's  cabi- 
net, was  a  writer  of  books ;  and  Daniel  W. 
Voorhees,  long  a  senator  in  Congress,  was 
the  greatest  forensic  orator  of  his  day  in 
the  Ohio  Valley.  Voorhees  had  none  of  the 
qualities  essential  in  a  great  lawyer,  but  he 
was  most  effective  as  a  speaker  before  the 
people.  The  code  of  1852  contained  a  pro- 
vision giving  to  the  defence  the  final  plea  to 
the  jury  in  criminal  trials  ;  but  this  was  changed 
in  1873  because  it  had  become  notorious  that 
Voorhees  and  others  of  similar  persuasive  pow- 
ers could  almost  invariably  procure  the  acquit- 
tal of  persons  charged  with  the  gravest  crimes 
by  appealing  to  the  natural  sympathies  and 
domestic  attachments  of  the  jurors.  Voorhees 
received  from  Berry  Sulgrove  the  name  of 
the  "tall  sycamore  of  the  Wabash."  His 
appearance  was  commanding,  and  many  of 
the  dangerous  qualities  that  go  to  the  making 
of  personal  magnetism  were  combined  in  him. 
Thomas  H.  Nelson,  also  of  the  Terre  Haute 
group,  was  worthy  to  be  named  with  Thomp- 
son and  Voorhees  as  an  orator,  though  never 
so  widely  known  as  they.  He  was  a  native 


1 6  THE   HOOSIERS 

of  Kentucky,  and  an  accomplished  man  of 
the  world,  who  filled  acceptably  several  diplo- 
matic positions.  Salem,  in  Washington  County, 
is  another  of  the  older  towns  that  contained 
in  its  earliest  years  families  of  marked  cul- 
tivation. John  Hay,  the  author,  diplomat, 
and  cabinet  officer,  and  Newton  Booth,  gov- 
ernor of  California  and  senator  in  Congress 
from  that  State,  were  born  there.  At  least 
one  generation  benefited  by  the  instruction 
of  John  I.  Morrison,  sometimes  called  "the 
Hoosier  Arnold,"  who  sent  out  from  the  Salem 
Seminary  in  the  third  decade  of  the  century 
a  group  of  men  destined  to  take  high  place 
in  nearly  every  field  that  called  for  character 
and  intelligence.  Hanover,  the  seat  of  Han- 
over College,  enjoyed  a  somewhat  similar  at- 
mosphere, and  Noble  Butler,  who  afterward 
became,  at  Louisville,  the  teacher  in  literature 
and  elocution  of  Mary  Anderson,  the  actress, 
was  one  of  the  Hanover  faculty. 

Indianapolis  was  planned  under  the  direction 
of  Christopher  Harrison,  a  man  of  varied 
talents,  who  buried  himself  in  the  wilderness 
of  Southern  Indiana  early  in  the  century,  fol- 


INDIANA  AND   HER  PEOPLE  17 

lowed  by  the  shadowy  tradition  that  he  had 
been  an  unsuccessful  suitor  for  the  hand  of 
Miss  Patterson,  the  famous  Baltimore  beauty 
who  married  Jerome  Bonaparte.  Emerging 
from  his  exile,  he  became  a  resident  of  Salem, 
sought  consolation  in  politics,  and  was  elected 
lieutenant-governor  in  1816.  Among  those 
who  assisted  in  marking  the  lines  of  the  new 
city  was  Alexander  Ralston,  a  Scotchman,  who 
had  aided  in  a  similar  task  at  the  national  capi- 
tal, and  who  brought  to  his  work  a  fancy  for 
diagonal  avenues  and  broad  streets  pleasantly 
suggestive  of  Washington.  Ralston  was  said  to 
have  been  obscurely  implicated  in  Burr's  con- 
spiracy ;  but  he  became  a  resident  within  the 
boundaries  he  had  drawn  for  the  capital  in 
the  woods,  and  died  there,  an  exemplary  citi- 
zen. Indianapolis  was  named  by  Jeremiah 
Sullivan,  in  the  legislature  of  1821,  which 
formally  designated  the  site  of  the  new  capi- 
tal. The  older  towns  on  the  Ohio  and  in 
the  White  Water  Valley  contributed  at  once 
to  the  population  of  the  place,  and  the  cur- 
rents of  migration  from  the  East  and  South 
met  there.  Dr.  Eggleston  described  the  town 
c 


1 8  THE  HOOSIERS 

in  his  novel  "  Roxy "  as  it  appeared  in 
1840: — 

"  The  stumps  stood  in  the  streets ;  the  mud  was  only 
navigable  to  a  man  on  a  tall  horse;  the  buildings  were 
ugly  and  unpainted,  the  people  were  raw  immigrants 
dressed  in  butternut  jeans,  and  for  the  most  part  afflicted 
either  with  the  ;  agur '  or  the  '  yellow  janders  ' ;  the  taverns 
were  new  wooden  buildings  with  swinging  signs  that 
creaked  in  the  wind,  their  floors  being  well  coated  with  a 
yellow  adobe  from  the  boots  of  the  guests.  The  alkaline 
biscuits  on  the  table  were  yellow  like  the  floors ;  the  fried 
'  middling'  looked  much  the  same  ;  the  general  yellowness 
had  extended  to  the  walls  and  the  bed  clothing,  and,  com- 
bined with  the  butternut  jeans  and  copperas-dyed  linsey- 
woolsey  of  the  clothes,  it  gave  the  universe  an  air  of  having 
the  jaundice." 

Old  residents  pronounce  the  description  unfair ; 
but  however  crude  the  earlier  years  may  have 
been,  the  founders  were  faithful  to  the  settle- 
ment, and  among  those  who  were  there  before 
1840  were  the  Fletcher,  Morris,  Merrill,  Coe, 
Ray,  Blake,  Sharpe,  Yandes,  and  Holliday  fami- 
lies, which  were  to  be  associated  with  the  best 
that  was  thought  and  done  in  the  community. 
In  1839  Henry  Ward  Beecher  became  pastor  of 
the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  and  he  was  a 
useful  citizen  through  the  nine  years  of  his 


INDIANA  AND  HER  PEOPLE  19 

residence.  Good  lecture  courses  were  pro- 
vided so  early  as  1855,  and  Edward  Everett, 
Bayard  Taylor,  Dr.  Holland,  Theodore  Parker, 
Park  Benjamin,  and  Ole  Bull  were  cordially 
welcomed.  The  Civil  War  disturbed  the  old 
order,  lifting  into  social  and  political  promi- 
nence men  who  had  had  no  connection  with  the 
original  leaders.  Unfriendly  feeling  between 
the  Eastern  element  and  the  Southerners  had 
already  been  manifested  in  political  contests, 
and  the  war  greatly  intensified  it.  "  Copper- 
head "  was  the  term  of  most  odious  signifi- 
cance known  to  the  majority  of  Indianians 
during  the  war,  and  it  continued  to  be  such 
for  many  years  afterward. 

The  club  idea  took  hold  in  Indiana  early, 
and  societies  for  the  study  of  art,  music,  and 
literature  have  by  no  means  been  limited  to 
the  capital.  The  Indianapolis  Literary  Club,  / 
formed  in  1877,  has  illustrated  perhaps  better 
than  any  other  expression  of  the  life  of  Indi- 
ana, the  quality  of  the  men  who  have  domi- 
nated there  in  the  last  three  decades.  In  a 
State  where  not  to  be  an  author  is  to  be  dis- 
tinguished, the  members  have  written  and  read 


20  THE   HOOSIERS 

their  essays  in  that  spirit  of  true  cultivation 
which  takes  its  aspirations  and  attainments  as 
a  matter  of  course,  and  not  too  seriously.  A 
president  and  a  vice-president  of  the  United 
States  have  been  on  the  club's  rolls,  as  have 
cabinet  officers,  senators  in  Congress  and  foreign 
ministers ;  but  literary  and  ethical  questions, 
oftener  than  political  problems,  have  vexed  its 
discussions,  and  it  has  been  more  interested  as  a 
society  in  Newman,  Arnold,  and  Emerson,  and 
in  the  thwarting  of  the  Zeitgeist,  tkan  in  mate- 
rial things.  The  women  of  Indiana  have  been 
important  contributors  to  all  agencies  that 
tend  toward  ideal  living,  and  at  Indianapolis 
they  have  exerted  an  intelligent  and  beneficent 
influence  in  literature. 

The  first  governors  and  law-givers  were  dis- 
tinctly not  of  the  bucolic  type ;  and  it  is  an 
interesting  fact  of  Indiana  history  that  in  an 
agricultural  State,  where  the  "farmer's  vote" 
has  been  essential  to  the  winning  party,  farm- 
ers have  rarely  found  their  way  to  the  gov- 
ernor's chair.  James  D.  Williams,  familiarly 
known  as  "  Blue  Jeans,"  who  was  elected  over 
Benjamin  Harrison  in  1876,  was  the  first 


INDIANA  AND  HER  PEOPLE        21 

farmer  pure  and  simple  to  hold  the  office  of  gov- 
ernor ;  and  this  was  not  until  Indiana  had  been 
sixty  years  a  State,  and  had  passed  beyond  the 
period  in  which  an  appeal  to  "  Jeffersonian  sim- 
plicity "  would  naturally  have  been  most  potent 
The  second  farmer  to  be  elected  governor  was 
Claude  Matthews,  who  was  a  candidate  in 
the  year  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  second  success, 
and  he  was  a  college  graduate  and  a  man  of 
affairs,  and  not  really  of  the  farmer  type. 
When,  in  1896,  for  the  third  time,  the  State 
went  to  the  country  for  a  governor,  James  A. 
Mount,  a  scientific  farmer  and  reformer  of 
farm  methods,  was  chosen.  The  name  of 
Posey  County  has  long  been  used  as  a  syno- 
nym for  any  dark  and  forbidding  land ;  but 
the  public  services  of  Thomas  Posey,  the  last 
of  Indiana's  territorial  governors,  for  whom 
the  district  was  named,  were  of  marked  vari- 
ety and  value,  so  that  the  name  can  hardly 
be  used  as  a  term  of  opprobrium,  particularly 
of  the  county  that  harbored  the  New  Har- 
mony settlement.  After  Indiana  had  gained 
the  dignity  of  statehood,  and  throughout  her 
earlier  years,  she  continued  fortunate  in  the 


22  THE   HOOSIERS 

class  of  men  to  whom  she  gave  her  high- 
est honors.  Jennings,  the  first  governor,  was 
a  native  of  New  Jersey.  He  was  a  fair 
scholar  and  wrote  creditable  English.  The 
Hendricks  family  came  from  Pennsylvania  and 
contributed  two  governors  to  the  State,  and  a 
vice-president  to  the  nation;  and  the  name 
remains  after  a  century  locally  significant  of 
character  and  attainment.  David  Wallace,  the 
father  of  General  Lew  Wallace,  and  Joseph 
A.  Wright,  who  was  prominent  in  affairs  in 
the  earlier  half  of  the  century,  were  natives 
of  Pennsylvania.  Wallace  had  been  educated 
at  West  Point,  but  resigned  from  the  army  to 
take  up  the  law;  he  became  noted  as  an  ora- 
tor and  was  governor  of  the  State.  Wright, 
who  paid  his  way  through  Indiana  University 
by  acting  as  janitor,  became  governor,  sat  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  and  was  minister  to 
Prussia.  Governor  Whitcomb  was  a  native  of 
Vermont,  Governor  Willard  of  New  York,  and 
Morton,  the  foremost  man  of  the  Civil  War 
period  in  the  State,  was  a  native  Indianian. 

Isaac    Blackford  (1786-1859),  for   thirty-five 
years  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  Indi- 


INDIANA  AND    HER   PEOPLE  2$ 

ana,  was  a  native  of  New  Jersey  and  an  alum- 
nus of  Princeton.  He  was  one  of  the  ablest 
judges  the  State  has  ever  known,  and  his  opin- 
ions as  they  appear  in  the  eight  volumes  of 
reports  which  he  published  are  models  of  lucid 
and  direct  writing.  The  law  has  always  been 
served  in  Indiana  by  able  men ;  and  it  is  a 
satisfaction  to  contemplate  the  bench  and  bar 
of  the  earliest  times,  when  the  court  was  itin- 
erant. Under  the  first  constitution  the  Circuit 
Court  bench  consisted  of  a  presiding  judge, 
who  sat  in  all  the  courts  of  a  circuit,  and  of 
two  associate  justices,  elected  in  each  county, 
who  were  usually  not  lawyers.  They  were 
supposed  to  insure  an  element  of  common- 
sense  equity  in  the  judiciary,  and  even  had 
power  to  overrule  the  presiding  judge  and 
give  the  opinion  of  the  court.  But  the  law- 
yers had  little  respect  for  the  associate  justices, 
and  if  the  presiding  judge  could  not  attend  a 
sitting  of  the  court,  they  declined  to  submit 
important  cases,  and  sought  diversion  at  the 
expense  of  the  associate  justices  by  raising 
profound  questions  of  abstract  law.  An  attor- 
ney named  Pitcher  once  used  the  phrase  de 


24  THE   HOOSIERS 

minimis  non  curat  lex  before  an  associate  jus- 
tice described  by  Robert  Dale  Owen  as  an 
illiterate  farmer,  short  of  stature,  lean  of  per- 
son, and  acrid  of  temper.  The  learned  coun- 
sel had  expected  to  translate  for  the  benefit 
of  the  bench,  but  before  he  could  speak,  the  jus- 
tice interrupted  impatiently,  "  Come,  Pitcher, 
none  of  your  Pottawattomie ;  give  us  plain 
English."  The  lawyer  did  not  pause  or  look 
at  the  court,  but  continued  talking  to  the  jury. 
"The  case,"  said  he,  "turns  chiefly  on  that 
well-known  legal  axiom  which  I  have  already 
had  occasion  to  bring  to  your  notice,  —  de 
minimis  non  curat  lex,  —  which,  when  reduced 
to  the  capacity  of  this  honorable  court,  means 

—  observe,    gentlemen,    means    that    the    law 
does  not  care   for   little,  trifling  things,  and," 

—  turning   sharply   around   on   the   diminutive 
figure  of  the  justice,  —  "  neither  do  I !  " 

The  first  court  houses  were  usually  frame  or 
log  buildings  of  two  rooms,  one  for  the  grand 
jury  and  the  other  for  the  court.  A  pole 
stretched  across  the  room  separated  the  mem- 
bers of  the  bar  from  the  populace.  Spectators 
travelled  hundreds  of  miles  to  attend  court  and 


INDIANA  AND   HER   PEOPLE  25 

hear  the  lawyers  "  plead."  The  young  attor- 
neys, called  "  squires,"  long  clung  to  the  queue 
as  a  kind  of  badge  of  their  profession,  and 
were  prone  to  disport  themselves  before  the 
rustics  in  the  court  yards  of  strange  towns.1 
Good  humor  prevailed  on  the  circuit ;  the  long 
horseback  journeys  brought  health  and  appe- 
tite, and  cheerful  landlords  welcomed  the  bar 
at  every  county  seat.  Good  horses,  trained  to 
corduroy  roads  and  swimming,  were  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  lawyer's  equipment;  and 
a  little  quiet  horse-trading  between  court-sit- 
tings was  not  considered  undignified.  The 
itinerant  courts  contributed  to  the  political 
advantage  of  the  attorneys,  taking  them  con- 
stantly before  the  people  of  a  wide  area. 
Political  ambition  was  usual,  and  the  lawyers 
frequently  cherished  the  hope  of  sitting  in  the 
State  legislature,  or  of  reaching  the  bench, 
with  a  State  office  or  the  United  States  Senate 
as  their  farthest  goal. 

The  even  balance  maintained  between  the 
two  greater  parties  in  Indiana  through  many 
years  gave  a  zest  to  all  political  contests. 

1  Smith's  "  Early  Indiana  Trials,"  p.  6. 


26  THE   HOOSIERS 

Whether  the  Hoosiers  have  expressed  wise 
preferences  or  not  in  the  years  in  which  their 
vote  has  been  of  consequence  in  national  strug- 
gles may  be  questioned,  but  it  is  interesting  to 
remember  that  Indiana  and  New  York  gave 
their  electoral  vote  for  the  same  candidate  for 
the  presidency  at  every  election  between  1872 
and  1 896,  and  that  their  vote  in  all  these  years, 
except  in  1876,  was  with  the  winning  side. 
Political  independence  has  been  fostered  to 
good  purpose  ;  in  recent  years  there  have  been 
instances  of  praiseworthy  courage  in  the  protest 
against  party  tyranny.  In  no  other  Western 
State  has  the  idea  of  the  merit  system  been 
propagated  so  vigorously  as  in  Indiana.  Lu- 
cius B.  Swift,  of  Indianapolis,  and  William  Dud- 
ley Foulke,  of  Richmond,  were  leaders  in  the 
movement  for  civil  service  reform,  and  enlisted 
under  them  from  the  beginning  in  a  roll  of 
honor  were  Oliver  T.  Morton,  Louis  Rowland, 
Charles  S.  and  Allen  Lewis,  of  Indianapolis, 
and  Henry  M.  Williams,  of  Fort  Wayne. 
Indiana  University  and  Franklin  and  Butler 
Colleges  also  gave  moral  support.  Mr.  Swift 
began,  in  1889,  the  Chronicle,  a  small  paper 


INDIANA  AND   HER   PEOPLE  2/ 

whose  publication  was  not  undertaken  for 
profit.  For  seven  years,  or  until  its  object  had 
been  attained,  he  made  it  a  merciless  assailant 
of  civil  service  abuses,  local  and  national. 
When  the  historian  of  civil  service  reform 
comes  to  his  task  he  will  find  that  the.  Chronicle 
has  in  many  ways  simplified  his  labors. 

The  successes  of  several  Indiana  authors 
were  a  great  stimulus  to  literary  ambition  in 
Indiana;  and  the  literary  clubs  were  an  addi- 
tional encouragement.  Poetry  seems  to  the 
amateur  much  more  easily  achieved  than  prose, 
and  poets  rose  in  every  quarter  of  the  State  in 
the  years  following  the  general  recognition  of 
James  Whitcomb  Riley  and  Maurice  Thompson. 
There  was  a  time  in  Indiana  when  it  was 
difficult  to  forecast  who  would  next  turn  poet, 
suggesting  the  Tractarian  period  in  England, 
of  which  Birrell  writes  that  so  prolific  were  the 
pamphleteers  at  the  high  tide  of  the  movement 
that  a  tract  might  at  any  time  be  served  upon 
one  suddenly,  like  a  sheriff's  process.  At  Indian- 
apolis the  end  seemed  to  have  been  reached  when 
a  retired  banker,  who  had  never  been  suspected, 
began  to  inveigle  friends  into  his  office  on  the 


28  THE  HOOSIERS 

pretence  of  business,  but  really  to  read  them 
his  own  verses.  Charles  Dennis,  a  local  jour- 
nalist, declared  that  there  had  appeared  in  the 
community  a  peculiar  crooking  of  the  right 
elbow  and  a  furtive  sliding  of  the  hand  into  the 
left  inside  pocket,  which  was  an  unfailing  pre- 
liminary to  the  reading  of  a  poem.  Rhyming  is, 
however,  the  least  harmful  of  amusements,  and 
so  fastidious  a  poet  as  Gray  expressed  his  belief 
that  even  a  bad  verse  is  better  than  the  best 
observation  ever  made  upon  it. 

"  But  Time,  who  soonest  drops  the  heaviest  things 
That  weight  his  pack,  will  carry  diamonds  long ;  " 

and  as  the  office  of  the  discourager  of  genius 
is  an  ungrateful  one,  it  is  doubtless  well  that 
many  should  implore  the  gods,  in  the  faith 
that  an  occasional  prayer  will  be  answered. 


CHAPTER   II 

THE  RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE  DIALECT 

THE  origin  of  the  term  "Hoosier"  is 
known  with  certainty.  It  has  been  applied 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Indiana  for  many  years, 
and,  after  "  Yankee,"  it  is  probably  the  sobri- 
quet most  famous  as  applied  to  the  people 
of  a  particular  division  of  the  country.  So 
early  as  1830,  "Hoosier"  must  have  had 
an  accepted  meaning,  within  the  State  at 
least,  for  John  Finley  printed  in  that  year, 
as  a  New  Year's  address  for  the  Indianapolis 
Journal,  a  poem  called  "The  Hoosier  Nest," 
in  which  the  word  occurs  several  times.  It 
is  a  fair  assumption  that  its  meaning  was 
not  obscure,  or  it  would  not  have  been  used 
in  a  poem  intended  for  popular  reading. 
"  Hoosier "  seems  to  have  found  its  first 
literary  employment  in  Finley's  poem.  Sul- 
grove,  who  was  an  authority  in  matters  of 
local  history,  was  disposed  to  concede  this 
29 


30  THE   HOOSIERS 

point.1  The  poem  is  interesting  for  its  glimpse 
of  Indiana  rural  life  of  the  early  period.  Fin- 
ley  was  a  Virginian  who  removed  to  Indiana 
in  1823  and  had  been  living  in  the  State 
seven  years  when  he  published  his  poem. 
He  was  an  accomplished  and  versatile  gen- 
tleman, and  his  verses,  as  collected  in  1866, 
show  superior  talents.  One  of  his  poems, 
"  Bachelor's  Hall,"  has  often  been  attributed 
to  Thomas  Moore.  The  "  Hoosier  Nest "  is 
the  home  of  a  settler,  which  a  traveller  hailed 
at  nightfall.  Receiving  a  summons  to  enter, 
the  stranger  walked  in,  — 

"  Where  half  a  dozen  Hoosieroons 
With  mush-and-milk,  tin  cups  and  spoons, 
White  heads,  bare  feet  and  dirty  faces 
Seemed  much  inclined  to  keep  their  places." 

The  stranger  was  invited  to  a  meal  of  venison, 
milk,  and  johnny-cake,  and  as  he  sat  at  the 
humble  board  he  made  an  inventory  of  the 
cabin's  contents :  — 

"  One  side  was  lined  with  divers  garments, 
The  other  spread  with  skins  of  varmints  ; 

1  "  History  of  Indianapolis  and  Marion  County,"  p.  72. 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE  DIALECT       31 

Dried  pumpkins  overhead  were  strung, 
Where  venison  hams  in  plenty  hung ; 
Two  rifles  placed  above  the  door ; 
Three  dogs  lay  stretched  upon  the  floor,  — 
In  short,  the  domicile  was  rife 
With  specimens  of  Hoosier  life." 

"  Hoosieroons "  is  never  heard  now,  and  was 
probably  invented  by  Finley  for  the  sake 
of  the  rhyme.  Both  Governor  Wright  and 
O.  H.  Smith  were  of  the  opinion  that  "  Hoosier  " 
was  a  corruption  of  "  Who's  here "  ( yere  or 
hyer)\  and  Smith1  has  sought  to  dramatize 

its  history :  — 

, 

"  The  night  was  dark,  the  rain  falling  in  torrents,  when 
the  inmates  of  a  small  log  cabin  in  the  woods  of  early 
Indiana  were  aroused  from  their  slumbers  by  a  low  knock- 
ing at  the  only  door  of  the  cabin.  The  man  of  the  house, 
as  he  had  been  accustomed  to  do  on  like  occasions,  rose 
from  his  bed  and  hallooed,  t  Who's  here  ? '  The  outsiders 
answered,  *  Friends,  out  bird-catching.  Can  we  stay  till 
morning  ? '  The  door  was  opened,  and  the  strangers 
entered.  A  good  log  fire  soon  gave  light  and  warmth  to 
the  room.  Stranger  to  the  host :  '  What  did  you  say  when 
I  knocked  ? '  <  I  said,  Who's  here  ? '  '  I  thought  you  said 
Hoosier.'  The  bird-catchers  left  after  breakfast,  but  next 
night  returned  and  hallooed  at  the  door,  '  Hoosier ; '  and 
from  that  time  the  Indianians  have  been  called  Hoosiers." 

1 "  Early  Indiana  Trials,"  p.  450. 


32  THE   HOOSIERS 

This  is  the  explanation  usually  given  to 
inquirers  within  the  State.  The  objection  has 
sometimes  been  raised  to  this  story,  that  the 
natural  reply  to  a  salutation  in  the  wilder- 
ness would  be  "  Who's  there  ? "  out  of  which 
"  Hoosier  "  could  hardly  be  formed ;  but  care- 
ful observers  of  Western  and  Southern  dia- 
lects declare  that  "Who's  hyer?"  was,  and  in 
obscure  localities  remains,  the  common  answer 
to  a  midnight  hail. 

Sulgrove  related  the  incident  of  an  Irish- 
man, employed  in  excavating  the  canal  around 
the  falls  at  Louisville,  who  declared  after  a 
fight  in  which  he  had  vanquished  several 
fellow-laborers  that  he  was  "a  husher,"  and 
this  was  offered  as  a  possible  origin  of  the 
word.  The  same  writer  suggested  another  ex- 
planation, that  a  certain  Colonel  Lehmanowski, 
a  Polish  officer  who  lectured  through  the  West 
on  Napoleon's  wars,  pronounced  Hussar  in  a 
way  that  captivated  some  roystering  fellow,  who 
applied  the  word  to  himself  in  self-glorification, 
pronouncing  it  "Hoosier."  Lehmanowski's 
identity  has  been  established  as  a  sojourner  in 
Indiana,  and  his  son  was  a  member  of  an  Indiana 

r 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE   DIALECT        33 

regiment  in  the  Civil  War.  The  Rev.  Aaron 
Woods 1  is  another  contributor  to  the  literature  of 
the  subject,  giving  the  Lehmanowski  story  with 
a  few  variations.  When  the  young  men  of  the 
Indiana  side  of  the  Ohio  crossed  over  to  Louis- 
ville, the  Kentuckians  made  sport  of  them, 
calling  them  "  New  Purchase  greenies,"  and 
declaring  that  they  of  the  southern  side  of  the 
river  were  a  superior  race,  composed  of  "  half- 
alligator,  half-horse,  and  tipped  off  with  snap- 
ping turtle ! "  Fighting  grew  out  of  these 
boasts  in  the  market  place  and  streets  of  Louis- 
ville. An  Indiana  visitor  who  had  heard 
Lehmanowski  lecture  on  "  The  Wars  of  Europe  " 
and  been  captivated  by  the  prowess  of  the 
Hussars,  whipped  one  of  the  Kentuckians,  and 
bending  over  him  cried,  "  I'm  a  Hoosier,"  mean- 
ing, "I'm  a  Hussar."  Mr.  Woods  adds  that  he 
was  living  in  the  State  at  the  time  and  that  this 
was  the  true  origin  of  the  term.  This  is,  how- 
ever, hardly  conclusive.  The  whole  Lehmanow- 
ski story  seems  to  be  based  on  communication 
between  Indiana  and  Kentucky  workmen  during 
the  building  of  the  Ohio  Falls  Canal.  The  orig- 

1 "  Sketches,"  p.  45. 
D 


34  THE   HOOSIERS 

inal  canal  was  completed  in  1830;  and  as  the 
Polish  soldier  was  not  in  this  region  earlier  than 
1840,  ten  years  after  the  appearance  of  Finley's 
poem,  it  is  clear  that  those  who  would  reach  the 
truth  of  the  matter  must  go  back  of  "  The  Hoosier 
Nest "  to  find  secure  ground.  No  one  has  ever 
pretended  that  Finley  originated  the  word,  and 
it  is  not  at  all  likely  that  he  did  so  ;  but  his 
poem  gave  it  wide  currency,  and  doubtless  had 
much  to  do  with  fixing  it  on  the  Indianians. 
Bartlett,  in  his  "  Dictionary  of  Americanisms," 
gives  the  novel  solution  of  the  problem  that  the 
men  of  superior  strength  throughout  the  early 
West,  the  heroes  of  log-rollings  and  house- 
raisings,  were  called  "hushers"  because  of 
their  ability  to  hush  or  quiet  their  antagonists ; 
and  that  "  husher  "  was  a  common  term  for  a 
bully.  The  Ohio  River  boatmen  carried  the 
word  to  New  Orleans,  where  a  foreigner  among 
them,  in  attempting  to  apply  the  word  to  him- 
self, pronounced  it  "  Hoosier."  Sulgrove  may 
have  had  this  meaning  in  mind  in  citing  his 
Irishman,  though  he  is  not  explicit.  Hoosier  as 
a  Christian  name  has  been  known  in  the  Ohio 
Valley ;  it  was  borne  by  a  member  of  the  Indiana 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND   THE   DIALECT        35 

Methodist  Conference  in  1835.  A  Louisville 
baker  named  Hoosier  made  a  variety  of  sweet 
bread  which  was  so  much  affected  by  Indiana 
people  that  they  were  called  "  Hoosier's  cus- 
tomers," "  Hoosier's  men,"  and  so  on ;  but 
no  date  can  be  found  for  this.  The  Rev. 
T.  A.  Goodwin,  first  heard  the  word  at  Cin- 
cinnati in  1830,  where  it  described  a  species 
of  gingerbread,  but  without  reference  to 
Indiana. 

It  is  clear  that  the  cultivated  people  of  Indi- 
ana recognized  the  nickname  in  the  early  half 
of  the  century.  Wright  and  Smith,  as  men- 
tioned above,  had  sought  to  determine  its 
genesis;  and  Tilghman  A.  Howard,  when  a 
congressman  from  Indiana,  writing  home  to  a 
friend  in  1840,  spoke  casually  of  the  "Hoosier 
State."  1  The  word  occurs  familiarly  in  Hall's 
"  New  Purchase"  (1855),  and  it  is  found  also  in 
Beste's  rare  volume,  "  The  Wabash ;  or,  Adven- 
tures of  an  English  Gentleman's  Family  in  the 
Interior  of  America,"  published  at  London  in 
the  same  year,  and  in  Mrs.  Beecher's  "From 
Dawn  to  Daylight"  (1859).  And  when,  in 

1  Woollen's  "  Sketches,"  p.  265. 


36  THE  HOOSIERS 

1867,  Sandford  C.  Cox  published  a  book  of 
verses  containing  the  couplet,  — 

"  If  Sam  is  right,  I  would  suggest 
A  native  Hoosier  as  the  best,"  — 

the  word  was  widely  known,  and  thereafter  it 
frequently  occurs  in  all  printed  records  touching 
the  State.  It  is  reported  from  Tennessee,  Vir- 
ginia, and  South  Carolina  by  independent  ob- 
servers, who  say  that  the  idea  of  a  rough 
countryman  is  always  associated  with  it.  In 
Missouri  it  is  sometimes  used  thus  abstractly, 
but  a  native  Indianian  is^  usu^lly^jn^^tj^witji- 
out  reference  to  hisjnannersjjr  literacy. 

No  reader  of  Hoosier  chronicles  can  fail 
to  be  impressed  by  the  relation  of  the  great 
forests  to  the  people  who  came  to  possess  and 
tame  them.  Before  they  reached  the  Indiana 
wilderness  in  their  advance  before  civilization, 
the  stalwart  pioneers  had  swung  their  axes  in 
Pennsylvania  or  Kentucky,  and  had  felt  the 
influence  of  the  great,  gloomy  woodlands  in 
their  lives;  but  in  Indiana  this  influence  was 
greatly  intensified.  They  experienced  an  isola- 
tion that  is  not  possible  to-day  in  any  part  of 
the  country,  and  the  loss  of  nearly  every  civil- 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND   THE   DIALECT         37 

izing  agency  that  men  value.  These  frontiers- 
men could  hardly  have  believed  themselves  the 
founders  of  a  permanent  society,  for  the  exact 
topography  of  much  of  their  inheritance  was 
unknown  to  them ;  large  areas  were  submerged 
for  long  periods,  and  the  density  of  the  woods 
increased  the  difficulty  of  building  roads  and 
knitting  the  scattered  clearings  and  villages 
into  a  compact  and  sensitive  commonwealth. 
Once  cleared^  the  land  yielded  a  precarious 
living  to  the  pioneers  in  return  for  their  labors 
and  sacrifices ;  after  the  first  dangers  from 
beastsof  prey,  the  pestiferous  small  animals 
anticipated  the  harvest  and  ate  the  corn.  One 
ear  in  four  acres  remained  after  the  gray  squir- 
rels had  taken  their  pleasure  in  a  Johnson 
County  field.1  Sheep  were  out  of  the  question 
on  account  of  the  wolves ;  and  always  present 
and  continuing  were  the  fevers  that  preyed  on 
the  worn  husbandmen  and  sent  many  to  prema- 
ture graves.  The  women,  deprived  of  every 
comfort,  contributed  their  share  of  the  labor, 
making  homes  of  their  cabins ;  dyeing  the  wool, 
when  they  had  it,  with  the  ooze  of  the  walnut, 

1  Banta's  "  Johnson  County,"  p.  55. 


38  THE   HOOSIERS 

carding,  spinning,  and  weaving  it,  and  finally 
cutting  the  cloth  into  garments ;  or  if  linen 
were  made,  following  the  flax  from  the  field 
through  all  the  processes  of  manufacture  until 
it  clothed  the  family. 

The  pioneers  could  not  see  then,  as  their 
children  see  now,  that  the  wilderness  was  a 
factor  in  their  destiny ;  that  it  drove  them  in 
upon,  themselves,  strengthening  their  independ- 
ence in  material  things  by  shutting  them  off 
from  older  communities,  and  that  it  even  fast- 
ened upon  their  tongues  the  peculiarities  of 
speech  which  they  had  brought  with  them  into 
the  wilderness.  But  their  isolation  compelled 
meditation,  and  when  reading  matter  penetrated 
the  woodlands  it  was  usually  worth  the  trouble 
of  transportation  in  a  day  of  few  roads  and 
little  travel.  The  pioneers  knew  their  Bibles 
and  named  their  children  for  the  Bible  heroes, 
and  most  of  their  other  books  were  religious. 
There  have  been  worse  places  in  which  to  form 
habits  of  thought,  and  to  lay  the  foundation  for 
a  good  manner  of  writing  our  language,  than 
the  Hoosier  cabin.  Lying  before  the  fireplace 
in  his  father's  humble  Spencer  County  home 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND   THE   DIALECT        39 

during  the  fourteen  years  that  the  family  spent 
in  Indiana,  —  years  that  were  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance in  his  life,  —  Abraham  Lincoln  studied 
his  few  books  and  caught  the  elusive  language- 
spirit  that  later  on  gave  character  and  beauty 
to  his  utterances. 

The  social  life  of  the  first  comers  also  drew 
its  inspiration  from  their  environment,  and 
was  expressed  in  log-rolling,  house-raising, 
and  other  labors  that  could  best  be  done  by 
cooperation,  and  which  they  concluded  usu- 
ally, in  a  fashion  quite  characteristic,  with  a 
frolic.  After  the  axe,  the  rifle  was  most 
important  among  their  belongings ;  for  they 
trusted  largely  to  the  fortunes  of  the  hunt 
for  food ;  and  peltries  became  a  valuable 
medium  of  exchange  in  their  simple  economy. 
Expertness  in  the  use  of  the  rifle  and  friendly 
rivalry  in  marksmanship  among  the  settlers 
led  to  other  social  gatherings;  and  even  pro- 
fessional men  took  pride  in  the  sport  and  par- 
ticipated in  these  contests.  The  militia  system 
in  the  early  days  was  not  an  important  fea- 
ture of  Hoosier  life.  The  Hoosier's  sense  of 
humor  has  always  been  keen,  and  where,  as 


OF -HE 
UNIVCRSITV 


40  THE   HOOSIERS 

once  occurred  on  muster  day  in  the  White 
Water  country,  a  part  of  the  officer's  duty 
was  to  separate  wearers  of  shoes  from  those 
who  appeared  in  moccasins,  and  bearers  of 
cornstalks  from  those  who  carried  rifles,  there 
was  nothing  of  the  pomp  and  pageantry  of 
war  to  captivate  the  imagination  of  the  people. 

The  Hoosier  fiddle  was  a  factor  in  all  the 
festivities  WtEe  country  folk.  The  fiddler 
was  frequently  an  eccentric  genius,  ranking 
with  the  rural  poet,  who  was  often  merely  a 
maker  of  idle  rhymes  ;  however,  the  country 
fiddler  in  Indiana  has  held  his  own  against 
latter-day  criticism  and  the  competition  of  the 
village  brass  band.  Governor  Whitcomb  en- 
joyed local  fame  as  a  violinist,  and  Berry 
Sulgrove  and  General  Lew  Wallace,  in  their 
younger  years,  were  skilful  with  the  bow. 
Dr.  H.  W.  Taylor,  a  conscientious  student  of 
early  Hoosier  customs,  connects  the  Hoosier 
fiddler  with  the  Scotch  Highlanders,  and  has 
expressed  his  belief 1  that  the  Highlander  folk 
coming  to  the  United  States  naturally  sought 
the  mountain  country  of  Virginia,  North  Caro- 

1  The  Current,  November,  1884. 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND   THE  DIALECT        41 

lina,  Tennessee,  and  Georgia,  and  that  the 
Scotch  fiddle  and  its  traditions  survive  princi- 
pally in  these  mountainous  countries.  We  are 
told  that  the  fiddle  of  the  Hoosiers  is  an  exotic 
and  cannot  long  survive,  though  fifteen  years 
after  this  prediction  a  contest  of  Hoosier 
fiddlers  was  held  in  the  largest  hall  at  Indian- 
apolis, and  many  musicians  of  this  old  school 
appeared  from  the  back  districts  to  compete 
for  the  prizes.  The  great  aim  of  the  old  time 
fiddlers  was  to  make  their  instruments  "talk." 
Their  tunes  enjoyed  such  euphonious  names 
as  "Old  Dan  Tucker,"  "Old  Zip  Coon," 
"  Possum  up  a  Gum  Stump,"  "  Irish  Washer- 
woman," "Waggoner,"  " Groiuid  Spy,"  and 
"Jay  Bird."  Dr.  Taylor  discovered  that  the 
very  Hoosier  manner  of  bowing,  i.e.  fiddling, 
was  derived  from  the  Scotch,  and  he  gives 
this  description  of  it:  "The  arm,  long,  bony, 
and  sinewy,  was  stretched  forwards,  down- 
wards, and  outwards  from  the  shoulder,  and  at 
full  length.  There  was  absolutely  no  movement 
of  the  wrist,  a  very  little  at  the  elbow,  and  just 
a  degree  more  at  the  shoulder."  Hall  ironi- 
cally observed  that  the  country  fiddler  could, 


42  THE  HOOSIERS 

like  Paganini,  play  one  tune  or  parts  of  nearly 
two  dozen  tunes  on  one  string;  and  like  the 
great  maestro  he  played  without  notes,  and  with 
endless  flourishes.  He  gives  this  attractive  por- 
trait of  one  of  the  New  Purchase  fiddlers :  — 

"  He  held  his  fiddle  against  his  breast  —  perhaps  out  of 
affection  —  and  his  bow  in  the  middle,  and  like  a  cart- 
whip  ;  things  enabling  him,  however,  the  more  effectually 
to  flog  his  instrument  when  rebellious ;  and  the  afflicted 
creature  would  scream  right  out  in  agony  !  Indeed,  his 
Scremonah  bore  marks  of  premature  old  age  —  its  finger- 
board being  indented  with  little  pits,  and  its  stomach  was 
frightfully  incrusted  with  rosin  and  other  gummy  things, 
till  it  looked  as  dark  and  careworn  as  Methuselah  !  Dan 
was,  truly,  no  niggard  of  *  rosum,1  for  he  l  greased '  as  he 
termed  it,  between  his  tunes  every  time !  and  then,  at  his 
first  few  vigorous  jerks,  fell  a  shower  of  dust  on  the  agitated 
bosom  of  his  instrument,  calling  out  in  vain  for  mercy 
under  the  cruel  punishment."  J 

James  Whitcomb  Riley  corroborates  the  im- 
pression of  earlier  writers  in  a  characteristic 
poem,  "My  Fiddle:"2- 

"  My  playin's  only  middlin'  —  tunes  I  picked  up  when  a 

boy — 
The  kind  o'-sort  o'  fiddlin'  that  the  folks  calls  <  cordaroy ' ; 

1  "The  New  Purchase,"  p.  401. 

2  "  Neighborly  Poems,"  p.  26. 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND   THE  DIALECT        43 

'The  Old  Fat  Gal'  and  ' Rye-Straw,'  and  'My  Sailyor's 

on  the  Sea,' 

Is  the  old  cowtillions  /  '  saw '  when  the  ch'ice  is  left  to 
me ; 

And  so  I  plunk  and  plonk  and  plink 

And  rosum-up  my  bow, 
And  play  the  tunes  that  make  you  think 
The  devil's  in  your  toe !  " 

In  several  of  the  Southern  Indiana  counties 
the  least  admirable  traits  of  the  ancestors  of  the 
"  poor  whites "  who  came  in  from  the  South 
have  been  continued  into  a  third  and  fourth  gen- 
eration ;  but  these  do  not  appear  prominently 
in  any  fair  or  comprehensive  examination  of  the 
people.  Much  has  been  written  of  the  lawless- 
ness of  Indianians,  and  lynching  and  white- 
capping  have  sporadically  been  reported  from 
many  of  the  southern  counties.  An  attorney- 
general  of  the  State  who  had  brought  all  the 
machinery  of  the  law  to  bear  upon  particular 
instances  of  lynching  during  his  term  of  office, 
and  who  had  given  much  study  to  the  phenom- 
ena presented  by  these  outbreaks,  expressed  his 
opinion  that  the  right  of  way  of  the  Baltimore 
and  Southwestern  Railway  marked  the  "  lynch- 
ing belt  "  in  Indiana.  Statistics  in  confirmation 


44  THE   HOOSIERS 

are  lacking,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  a  large 
percentage  of  the  lynchings  reported  in  the 
State  have  occurred  either  in  counties  on  the  line 
of  the  road  or  in  those  immediately  adjoining. 
Lynchings  have  also  occurred  in  at  least  half 
a  dozen  counties  north  of  Indianapolis,  so  that 
all  the  crimes  of  this  sort  perpetrated  in  Indi- 
ana cannot  be  charged  to  the  descendants  of  the 
"  poor  whites  "  in  the  more  Southern  counties. 
Lynching  has  not  been  viewed  with  apathy,  and 
every  instance  of  it  has  been  followed  by  vig- 
orous efforts  at  punishment.  In  1889  a  drastic 
law  was  added  to  the  statutes,  defining  lynching 
and  providing  severe  penalties.  It  struck  to 
the  quick  of  the  matter  by  making  possible  the 
impeachment  of  law  officers  who  yield  prison- 
ers to  a  mob.  But  under  any  circumstances 
these  people  are  so  intensely  clannish  that  even 
the  sincerest  prosecution  usually  fails  for  lack 
of  witnesses.  The  Hon.  W.  A.  Ketcham,  State 
attorney-general,  after  heroic  efforts  to  fix  re- 
sponsibility for  the  lynching  of  five  men  in  Rip- 
ley  County  on  the  night  of  September  14,  1898, 
gravely  stated  in  his  official  report  that  he  had 
applied  the  Sherlock  Holmes  principle  to  the  in- 


THE   RURAL  TYPE   AND   THE   DIALECT        45 

cident ;  that  is  to  say,  after  excluding  every  other 
possible  hypothesis  he  had  assumed  the  correct- 
ness of  the  one  remaining,  and  this  he  stated 
in  his  syllabus  of  the  case  to  be  :  "  That  A 
broke  jail  and  travelled  across  the  country  to  the 
town  where  the  revolver  had  been  pawned,  a 
distance  of  seven  miles,  broke  into  the  store, 
stole  the  revolver,  returned  again,  broke  back 
into  jail,  shot  himself,  then  killed  B  and  C  and 
hung  their  dead  bodies  to  a  tree,  put  the  finishing 
touches  to  his  crime  by  hanging  D  and  E,  and 
then  in  order  that  suspicion  might  be  directed 
against  innocent  men,  finally  hanged  himself."1 
The  milder  form  of  outlawry,  known  as  "  white- 
capping,"  has  also  been  practised  in  Indiana 
occasionally,  and  sometimes  with  barbarous 
cruelty ;  but  it,  like  lynching,  is  not  peculiar  to 
the  State,  and  its  extent  has  been  greatly  exag- 
gerated by  Eastern  newspapers. 

It  has  been  insisted  by  loyal  Indianians  that 
the  speech  of  the  later  generations  of  natives  isl 
almost  normal  English ;  that  the  rough  vernac- 
ular of  their  ancestors  has  been  ground  down 
in  the  schools,    and   that   the   dictionaries   are 

1  Report  of  W.  A.  Ketcham,  attorney-general,  1897-8,  p.  173. 


46  THE   HOOSIERS 

rapidly  sanctioning  new  words,  once  without 
authority,  that  inevitably  crept  into  common 
speech  through  the  necessities  of  pioneer  ex- 
pression. It  may  fairly  be  questioned  whether, 
properly  speaking,  there  ever  existed  a  Hoo- 
sier  dialect.  The  really  indigenous  Indiana 
words  and  novel  pronunciations  are  so  few  as  to 
make  but  a  poor  showing  when  collected ;  and 
while  the  word  "  dialect "  is  employed  as  a 
term  of  convenience  in  this  connection,  it  can 
only  be  applied  to  a  careless  manner  of  speak- 
ing, in  which  novel  words  are  merely  incidental. 
A  book  of  colloquial  terms,  like  Green's  "Vir- 
ginia Word  Book,"  could  hardly  be  compiled 
for  Indiana  without  infringing  upon  the  prior 
claims  of  other  and  older  States  to  the  greater 
part  of  it.  The  so-calledJ^Qp.s^-rjd^-^^t wV>p^ 
it  survives  at  all,  is  the  speech  of  the  first 

r***-*--   '      _~— ..- -«~~~_ .-    • — — — — —— — — - ' 

American  settlers  in  Indiana,  greatly  modified 
by  time  and  schooling,  but  retaining,  both  in 
employment  of  colloquial  terms  and  in  pronun- 
ciation, ^Qj^QCuha^^^^^K£j^-J^rriod  west- 
warcijmjrn  _Jide_^water ...early  in  the  nineteenth 
century.  The  distinctive  Indiana  countryman, 
the  real  Hoosier,  who  has  been  little  in  contact 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE  DIALECT        47 

with  the  people  of  cities,  speaks  a  good  deal   I  ' 
as  his  Pennsylvania  or  North  Carolina  or  Ken- 
tucky grandfather  or  great-grandfather  did  be- 
fore him,  and  has  created  nothing  new.       His 
speech  contains  comparatively  ff;w  words 
are   peculiar   to   the^Stat 

withm  it ;  but  inthe  main  it  shares  such  devia- 
tions from  normal  or  literary  English  with  the 
whole  Southwest. 

In  his  book  "  The  Wabash  "  Beste  describes 
his  interview  with  an  Indiana  carpenter,  who 
questioned  whether  the  traveller  was  really  an 
Englishman,  because  his  speech  was  unlike 
that  of  the  usual  English  immigrants  whose 
trouble  with  the  aspirate  had  evoked  derisive 
comment  among  the  Americans.  This  occurs 
in  his  chapter  on  Indianapolis,  in  which  the 
carpenter  is  quoted  thus : 

" l  You  do  not  say  *  ouse '  and  '  and  '  for  '  house '  and 
*  hand ' ;  all  the  children,  and  all  of  you,  pronounce  all 
these  words  like  Americans,  and  not  as  real  English  pro- 
nounce them.  Their  way  of  speaking  makes  us  always 
say  that  we  talk  better  English  than  the  English  them- 
selves.1 I  had,  indeed,  often  heard  the  Americans  laughed 
at  for  saying  so  ;  but  now  the  matter  was  explained.  My 
carpenter  repeated  with  great  accuracy  various  instances 


48  THE  HOOSIERS 

of  provincialisms  and  vulgarisms  which  he  and  all  of  them 
had  noticed  more  or  less,  in  all  the  English  emigrants  who 
had  come  amongst  them.  Seeing  none  of  any  other  class, 
they  naturally  supposed  that  all  English  people  pronounced 
the  language  in  the  same  manner,  and  so  prided  them- 
selves upon  the  superiority  of  American  English.  For 
notwithstanding  the  disagreeable  nasal  tone  and  drawling 
whine  in  which  most  of  them  speak,  and  notwithstanding 
a  few  national  phrases  and  the  peculiar  use  and  pronuncia- 
tion of  certain  words,  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  Ameri- 
can people,  in  general,  speak  English  without  provincial 
dialect  or  vulgarisms.  Whence,  in  fact,  could  they  ac- 
quire such,  since  all  the  emigrants  they  see  came  from 
different  parts  of  England,  and  the  provincialisms  of  the 
one  neutralize  those  of  the  other." 

Professor  Whitney,  in  his  "  Language  and 
the  Study  of  Language,"  expresses  in  academic 
terms  much  the  same  idea.1 

Lapses  in  pronunciation  have  never  been 
punishable  with  death  on  the  Wabash,  as  at 
the  fords  of  the  Jordan,  where  the  shibboleth 
test  of  the  Gileadites  cost  the  Ephraimites  forty 
and  two  thousand.  The  native  Indianian  is 
not  sensitive  about  his  speech  and  refuses  to  be 
humble  before  critics  from  the  far  East  who 
say  "  idea-r  "  and  "  Philadelphia-r."  James  Whit- 

1  Fifth  Edition,  1872,  pp.  171-172. 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE  DIALECT        49 

comb  Riley  has  made  the  interesting  and  just 
observation  that  the  average  countryman  knows 
in  reality  a  wider  range  of  diction  than  he  per- 
mits himself  to  use,  and  that  his  abridgments 
and  variations  are  attributable  to  a  fear  lest 
he  may  offend  his  neighbors  by  using  the  best 
language  at  his  command.1  This  is  wholly 
true,  and  it  is  responsible  in  a  measure  for  con- 
tributions to  the  common  speech  of  local  idioms 
and  phrases.  In  rural  Indiana  and  generally 
in  the  Southwest  the  phrase  "  's  th'  fellah  says  " , 
is  often  used  by  a  rustic  to  indicate  his  own 
appreciation  of  the  fact  that  he  has  employed 
an  unusual  expression.  Or  it  may  be  an  actual 
quotation,  as,  for  example,  "Come  over  fer  a 
visit,  an'  we'll  treat  you  'n  a  hostile  manner, 
's  Uncle  Amos  use  t'  say."  This  substitution  ^ 
of  hostile  for  hospitable  once  enjoyed  wide  cur-  I 
rency  in  Indiana  and  Illinois.  Sulgrove  confirms 
Riley's  impression : — 

"  Correct  pronunciation  was  positively  regarded  by  the 
Southern  immigration  as  a  mark  of  aristocracy  or,  as 
they  called  it,  *  quality.'  The  'ing1  in  '  evening, '  or 
'  morning '  or  any  other  words,  was  softened  into  '  in,'  the 

1  The  Forum,  Vol.  14,  p.  465. 


50  THE   HOOSIERS 

full  sound  being  held  finical  and  *  stuck  up.'  So  it  was  no 
unusual  thing  to  hear  such  a  comical  string  of  emasculated 
'  nasals  '  as  the  question  of  a  prominent  Indiana  lawyer 
of  the  Kentucky  persuasion,  'Where  were  you  a-standin' 
at  the  time  of  your  perceivin'  of  the  hearin'  of  the  firin'  of 
the  pistol  ? '  .  .  .  To  t  set '  was  the  right  way  to  sit ;  an 
Indian  did  not  scalp,  he  'skelped';  a  child  did  not  long 
for  a  thing,  he  *  honed '  for  it,  —  slang  retains  this  Hoosier 
archaism  ;  a  woman  was  not  dull,  she  was  i  daunsy ' ;  com- 
monly a  gun  was  '  shot '  instead  of  fired  in  all  moods  and 
tenses."  l 

While  the  French  settlements  in  Indiana  made 
no  appreciable  impression  on  the  common  speech, 
yet  it  has  been  assumed  by  some  observers  that 
the  inclination  at  the  South  to  throw  the  accent 
of  words  forward,  as  in  gentlemen,  settlement, 
was  fairly  attributable  to  the  influence  of  the 
French  Catholics  in  Louisiana  and  of  the  Hugue- 
nots who  were  scattered  through  the  South- 
eastern colonies,  though  this  would  seem  a  trifle 
finespun ;  but  the  idiosyncrasy  noted  exists 
at  the  South,  no  matter  what  its  real  origin 
may  have  been,  and  it  has  been  communicated 
in  some  measure  through  Southern  influences 
to  the  middle  Western  people.  However,  South- 
ern Indianians  sometimes  say  Tennes-sy,  ac- 

1  Sulgrove,  p.  90. 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE   DIALECT         51 

centing  the  first  syllable  and  slurring  the  last, 
illustrating  again  the  danger  of  accepting  any 
theories  or  fixing  any  rules  for  general  guidance 
in  such  matters.  Dr.  Eggleston  remembers 
only  one  French  word  that  survived  from  old 
French  times  in  the  Wabash  country, —  "  cor- 
delle,  to  tow  a  boat  by  a  rope  carried  along  the 
shore."  The  most  striking  influence  in  the 
Indiana  dialect  is  that  of  the  Scotch-Irish,  who 
have  left  marked  peculiarities  of  speech  behind 
them  wherever  they  have  gone.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  fact  that  both  the  English  Quakers  and 
the  Germans  contributed  largely  to  the  settle- 
ment of  Pennsylvania  and  of  the  Southeastern 
colonies,  the  idiosyncrasies  of  speech  most  per- 
ceptible in  the  regions  deriving  their  population 
from  those  sources  are  plainly  Scotch-Irish ;  as, 
for  example,  the  linguistic  deficiency  which 
makes  strenth  and  tenth  of  strength  and  length, 
or  bunnle  of  bundle,  and  the  use  of  nor  for  than, 
after  a  comparative  adjective.  The  use  of  into 
for  in  and  whenever  for  as  soon  as  are  other 
Scotch-Irish  peculiarities.  These,  however,  are 
heard  only  in  diminishing  degree  in  Indiana,  and 
many  of  the  younger  generations  of  Hoosiers 


52  THE   HOOSIERS 

have  never  known  them.  The  confusion  of  shall 
and  w///and  of  like  and  as  is  traceable  to  North- 
Irish  influences,  and  is  not  peculiar  to  the  spoken 
language  at  the  South  and  West,  but  is  observed 
frequently  in  the  newspapers,  and  is  found  even 
in  books. 

The  anonymous  writer  of  "  Pioneer  Annals  " 
(1875),  a  rare  pamphlet  that  contains  much 
invaluable  matter  relating  to  the  occupation 
of  the  White  Water  Valley,  speaks  of  the  prev- 
alence of  Carolina  Quakers  among  the  first 
settlers  of  that  region,  and  remarks  that  when 
newcomers  were  asked  where  they  came  from, 
the  answer  would  be  "  Guilford  County,  near 
Clemmens's  Store  "  ;  or  "  Beard's  Hatter-shop  "  ; 
"  Dobson's  Cross  Roads";  or  "Deep-River 
Settlement  of  Friends."  The  same  writer  gives 
a  dialect  note  which  illustrates  the  ephemeral 
character  of  idiom.  Sleys  (slays)  was  a  term 
applied  by  the  Carolinians  to  the  reeds  used 
by  them  in  their  home-made  looms.  A  Caro- 
lina emigrant  bound  for  Indiana  stopped  at 
Cincinnati  and  offered  to  sell  a  supply  of  these. 
It  was  in  August,  and  the  storekeeper  knew 
but  one  word  having  the  same  sound,  sleighs, 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND   THE   DIALECT        53 

which  were  not  used  in  Cincinnati  in  mid- 
summer. His  ironical  comment  almost  led 
to  a  personal  encounter  before  the  Carolinian 
could  explain.  John  V.  Hadley  states  in  his 
"Seven  Months  a  Prisoner"  that  "Guilford 
County"  and  "Jamestown"  (North  Carolina) 
were  household  words  in  many  families  of  Hen- 
dricks  County  (Indiana),  where  he  lived.  At 
Jamestown,  on  his  way  to  Libby  Prison,  he 
was  accosted  by  a  citizen  who  asked  whether 
a  former  neighbor  who  had  moved  to  Indiana, 
but  still  owned  property  in  North  Carolina, 
had  not  enlisted  in  the  Union  army,  the  purpose 
of  the  inquiry  being  to  obtain  testimony  on 
which  to  confiscate  his  estate. 

The  circulation  of  newly  coined  words  has 
been  so  rapid  in  late  years,  owing  to  the  in- 
crease of  communication  between  different 
parts  of  the  country,  and  to  dissemination  by 
the  newspapers,  that  few  useful  words  origi- 
nating obscurely  are  likely  to  remain  local. 
Lowell  amused  himself  by  tracing  to  unassaila- 
ble English  sources  terms  that  were  assumed 
to  be  essentially  American ;  and  if  Chaucer 
and  the  Elizabethans  may  be  invoked  against 


54  THE  HOOSIERS 

our  rural  communities,  the  word-hunter's  sport 
.  has  grown  much  simpler  when  he  may  cite 
a  usage  in  one  State  to  disestablish  the  prior- 
ity claimed  for  it  in  another.  There  is  risk 
in  all  efforts  to  connect  novel  words  with  par- 
ticular communities,  no  matter  how  carefully 
!  it  may  be  done,  and  it  is  becoming  more  and 
\  more  difficult  to  separate  real  dialect  from 
\  slang.  Lists  of  unusual  words  that  have  been 
'reported  to  the  American  Dialect  Society 
afford  interesting  instances  of  the  danger  of 
accepting  terms  as  local  which  are  really  in 
general  use.  The  word  rambunctious,  reported 
from  New  York  State  as  expressing  impu- 
dence and  forwardness,  cannot  be  peculiar 
to  that  region,1  for  it  is  used  in  Indiana  in 
identically  the  same  sense.  Other  words,  col- 
lected through  the  same  agency  and  common 
in  Indiana,  are :  scads,  reported  from  Mis- 
souri, signifying  a  great  quantity ;  and  sight, 
meaning  a  large  amount,  noted  in  New  Eng- 
land and  New  York.  Great  hand  for,  mean- 
ing a  penchant,  traced  from  Maine  to  Ohio, 
may  be  followed  also  into  Indiana,  but  this, 

i  "  Dialect  Notes,"  Part  VIII,  p.  392. 


THE  RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE  DIALECT        55 

like  druthers,  for  a  preference  or  choice,  be- 
longs to  the  towns  rather  than  to  the  coun- 
try. Go  like,  in  the  sense  of  imitation,  as  "go 
like  a  rooster,"  is  reported  from  both  Maine 
and  Indiana ;  and  foot-loose,  meaning  free  and 
untrammelled,  observed  in  Georgia,  is  used 
in  the  towns,  at  least,  of  Indiana.  The  natural 
disposition  of  Americans  to  exaggerate  led  to 
the  creation  by  the  Southeastern  element  in 
Indiana  population  of  bodaciously?  a  corruption 
of  audaciously ;  and  to  the  employment  of  pow- 
erful, indiscriminately  with  big  or  little,  as  a 
particularly  emphatic  superlative.  Curiously 
enough  powerful,  which  is  usually  identified 
with  the  earlier  generations  of  the  Southwest, 
is  reported  also  from  Eastern  Massachusetts.2 
Sarcumstansis  for  circumstances,  Var  for  bear, 
and  thar  for  there  reached  Indiana  through  Ken- 
tucky, and  are  now  rarely  heard.  Dr.  Eggle- 
ston  employs  the  broad  a  in  "The  Graysons," 
where  one  character  says  bar  while  another 
pronounces  the  word  correctly,  explaining  that 
words  are  not  always  pronounced  the  same 

1  "The  New  Purchase,"  p.  143. 

2  "  Dialect  Notes,"  Part  IV,  p.  211. 


56  THE   HOOSIERS 

in    a    dialect  —  an   observation   that   has    also 
been  made  by  Mr.  Riley. 

Mrs.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  whose  unamiable 
novel,  "  From  Dawn  to  Daylight,"  is  a  dreary 
picture  of  Indiana  life,  gives  a  few  interesting 
usages ;  as  a  right  smart  chance  of  money, 
heap  of  plunder,  sight  stronger,  proper  hard, 
showing  that  her  acquaintance  was  princi- 
pally with  the  Southern  element,  which  she 
had  known  at  Lawrenceburg  and  Indianapolis. 
Plunder,  as  a  synonym  for  baggage,  seems  to 
be  largely  Southern  and  Western,  and  was 
probably  derived  from  the  Pennsylvania  Ger- 
mans. The  insolent  intrusiveness  of  dialect 
is  illustrated  by  the  appearance  of  the  word 
in  its  colloquial  sense  in  the  first  chapter  of 
General  Wallace's  "  Prince  of  India."  Dr. 
Eggleston  in  "  The  Graysons "  gives  weth  for 
with,  air  for  are,  thes  for  just,  sher  f  for 
sheriff,  and  yeSs  for  here  is.  Indianians  usually 
pronounce  the  name  of  their  State  correctly, 
though  the  final  vowel  sometimes  becomes  y. 
Benjamin  S.  Parker  remembers  that  in  the 
early  days  pioneers  sometimes  said  Injuns, 
Injiana,  and  immejttt ;  but  these  usages  are 


THE   RURAL  TYPE   AND  THE   DIALECT         57 

obsolete  in  the  State.1  Mr.  Riley  frequently 
uses  miled  (mile),  and  yet  the  word  is  some- 
what similarly  spoken  on  Nantucket,  maild. 
Ornery,  a  vulgar  form  of  ordinary,  seems  to 
be  generally  used,  and  has  been  observed  in 
the  Middle  States  as  well  as  in  Indiana  and 
Kentucky.  The  injunction  mind  out,  which 
is  used  in  Kentucky  in  such  admonitions  as 
"  mind  out  what  you  are  doing,"  becomes 
watch  out  in  Indiana.  Wrench  for  rinse,  used 
in  the  States  contiguous  to  the  Ohio,  is  rense 
in  New  England.  Critter  for  horse  is  still 
heard  in  parts  of  rural  Indiana,  which  derived 
population  through  Kentucky,  where  the  same 
usage  is  noted.  Fruit,  as  applied  to  stewed 
apples  (apple  sauce)  only,  is  a  curious  limi- 
tation of  the  noun,  heard  among  old-fashioned 
people  of  Southern  origin  in  Indiana.  Some 
place  for  someivhere  is  not  chargeable  to  Indi- 
ana alone,  but  this  and  the  phrases  want  on 
and  want  off  seem  to  be  used  chiefly  in  the 

1  D  before  i  or  u  does  not  become  j  in  cultivated  usage  any- 
where at  the  west.  Personally,  I  have  never  heard  Injiana 
within  the  State;  but  I  have  heard  it  from  a  Bostonian,  a  native 
of  Maine,  who  had  never  lived  outside  of  New  England. 


$8  THE  HOOSIERS 

West  Central  States,  and  they  belong  to  the 
borderland  between  slang  and  dialect.  It 
would  seem  a  far  cry  from  the  Hoosier  speech 
to  the  classic  Greek,  and  yet  Dr.  H.  W.  Taylor 
has  pursued  this  line  of  philological  inquiry 
with  astonishing  results,  tracing  an  analogy 
of  sound  and  sense  most  ingeniously  between 
Greek  terms  and  words  found  in  the  American 
dialects.1 

In  the  speech  of  the  illiterate,  there  is  usu- 
ally something  of  rhythm  and  cadence.  All 
slang  shares  a  feeling  for  the  balance  and 
nice  adjustment  of  words,  and  slang  phrases 
are  rarely  clumsy.  The  cry  of  a  boy  calling 
his  mate  has  its  peculiar  crescendo,  and  ped- 
lers  the  world  over  run  the  scale  of  human 
expression  in  pursuit  of  odd  effects.  The 
drawl  of  the  Southerner  and  Southwesterner  is 
not  unmusical,  though  it  may  try  the  patience 
of  the  stranger.-  Even  cultivated  Indianians, 
particularly  those  of  Southern  antecedents, 
have  the  habit  of  clinging  to  their  words ; 
they  do  not  bite  them  off  sharply.  G  per- 
forms its  office  as  final  consonant  in  ing  under 

1  "Souvenir  of  the  Western  Association  of  Writers,"  1891. 


THE  RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE  DIALECT        59 

many  disadvantages ;  and  it  was  long  ignored, 
though  the  school  teachers  have  struggled 
nobly  to  restore  it.  The  blending  of  words, 
which  begins  with  childhood,  is  often  carried 
into  maturity  by  the  Indianian ;  thus  by  a 
lazy  elision  "did  you  ever"  is  combined  in 
jever,  and  "where  did  you  get"  becomes 
wherjuget.  Ju  is,  in  fact,  usual  in  the  Ohio 
Valley.  The  history  of  the  Italian  a  in 
this  country  is  in  itself  interesting.  In  New 
England  and  in  Virginia  it  finds  recognition, 
whereas  in  the  intermediate  region  the  nar- 
rower sound  of  the  vowel  prevails;  and  like- 
wise the  softening  of  r  is  noted  in  New 
England  and  among  the  Virginians  and  other 
Southerners,  while  in  the  intermediate  terri- 
tory and  at  the  West  r  receives  its  full  sound. 
The  shrill  nasal  tone  is  still  marked  in  the 
back  country  folk  of  New  England,  while  the 
Southern  and  Southwestern  farmer's  speech 
is  fuller  and  more  open-mouthed.  Whether 
climatic  influences  have  been  potent  in  such 
matters  remains  a  matter  of  speculation,  but 
such  theories  are  to  be  received  with  caution. 
It  is  unfortunate  that  there  are  so  few  trust- 


60  THE   HOOSIERS 

worthy  records  of  the  early  Southwestern 
speech,  and  that  first  and  last  bad  grammar, 
reckless  spelling,  and  the  indiscriminate  dis- 
tribution of  the  printer's  apostrophe  by  writ- 
ers who  had  no  real  knowledge  to  guide  them, 
have  served  to  create  an  erroneous  impression 
of  the  illiteracy  of  the  Indianians  and  their 
neighbors.  It  is  likely  that  during  the  next 
quarter  of  a  century  the  continued  fusion  of 
the  various  elements  of  Western  population 
will  create  a  dead  level  of  speech,  approximat- 
ing accuracy,  so  that  in  a  typical  American 
State  like  Indiana  local  usages  will  disappear, 
and  the  only  oddities  discernible  will  be  those 
of  the  well-nigh  universal  slang,  which  even 
now  reach  Colorado  and  California  almost  as 
soon  as  they  are  known  at  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board. At  the  South  and  in  New  England, 
where  there  is  less  mingling  of  elements,  the 
old  usages  will  probably  endure  much  longer; 
and  it  is  a  fair  assumption  that  in  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  and  in  the  Trans-Missouri  country, 
a  normal  American  speech  free  of  local  idio- 
syncrasies will  appear  first.  Our  keen  sense 
of  humor  and  our  love  of  the  conveniences 


THE   RURAL  TYPE  AND  THE  DIALECT        6 1 

of  speech  are  likely  to  continue  to  be  national 
traits,  leading  to  the  creation  and  adoption  of 
slang  from  time  to  time;  but  where  a  people 
imply  quotation  marks  in  all  their  lapses  from 
propriety,  they  anticipate  and  destroy  criticism. 
After  all,  there  is  nothing  reprehensible  in 
dialect,  as  we  loosely  use  the  word,  or  even 
in  slang.  Flexibility  is  necessary  to  the  liv- 
ing language ;  and  the  word-hunter  who  really 
delights  in  his  avocation,  and  is  not  limited  in 
his  researches  to  the  remoter  fields  of  classi- 
cal philology,  hearing  in  his  daily  walks  and 
in  the  tranquil  talk  at  peaceful  inns  the  pun- 
gent or  pictorial  word  that  no  lexicographer 
has  yet  detected,  knows  a  joy  that  is  greater 
than  that  of  fly  fishing  or  butterfly  hunting. 
"  No  language,"  writes  Lowell,  "  after  it  has 
faded  into  diction,  none  that  cannot  suck  up 
the  feeding  juices  secreted  for  it  in  the  rich 
mother-earth  of  common  folk,  can  bring  forth 
a  sound  and  lusty  book.  True  vigor  and 
heartiness  of  phrase  do  not  pass  from  page 
to  page,  but  from  man  to  man,  where  the, 
brain  is  kindled  and  the  lips  suppled  by  down-' 
right  living  interests,  and  by  passion  in  «its 


62  THE   HOOSIERS 

very  throe."  He  continues :  "  Language  is 
the  soil  of  thought,  and  our  own  especially 
is  a  rich  leaf-mould,  the  slow  deposit  of  ages, 
the  shed  foliage  of  feeling,  fancy,  and  imagi- 
nation, which  has  suffered  an  earth  change, 
that  the  vocal  forest,  as  Howell  called  it,  may 
clothe  itself  anew  with  living  green."  And  this 
suggests  Horace's  words,  in  "Ars  Poetica  "  :  — 

"Ut  silvae  foliis  pronos  mutantur  in  armos, 
Prima  cadunt ;  ita  verborum  vetus  interit  aetas, 
Et  juvenum  ritu  florent  modo  nata  vigentque." 

As  the  leaves  have  fallen  through  a  century 
in  the  Wabash  country,  they  have  buried  words 
that  will  never  reappear ;  and  the  change  will 
continue,  old  words  vanishing  and  new  ones 
taking  their  places,  so  long  as  tradition  and 
heredity  yield  to  the  schoolmaster,  that  ruthless 
forester  who  grafts  and  trims  to  make  all  trees 
uniform. 


CHAPTER   III 

BRINGERS  OF  THE  LIGHT 

IN  his  address  to  the  annual  council  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  diocese  of  Indiana  in  1863, 
Bishop  Upfold  spoke  with  much  vigor  against 
the  use  of  flowers  in  the  decoration  of  churches, 
and  said :  — 

"  There  is  no  sound  principle,  no  true  doctrine  involved 
in  the  practice.  It  is  all  poetry,  and  the  very  romance 
of  poetry,  the  conception  of  romantic  and  imaginative 
minds,  dictated  less  by  religious  sentiment  than  by  a  fond- 
ness for  show  and  gaudy  display.  Instead  of  the  decora- 
tion concentrating  the  attention  devoutly  on  the  great  and 
glorious  fact  which  flowers  are  erroneously  supposed  to 
symbolize,  it  is  far  more  likely  to  divert  it,  and  impair  the 
true  spiritual  emotions  and  impressions,  which  the  com- 
memorative services  of  the  day  (Easter)  are  destined  to 
awaken  and  deepen.  .  .  .  The  practice  will  not  be 
allowed  in  this  diocese ;  and  I  now  declare  and  desire 
it  may  be  distinctly  understood  and  remembered,  — 
and  I  may  as  well  say  it,  because  I  mean  to  do  it  —  that  I 
will  not  visit  or  officiate  in  any  parish,  to  administer  con- 
firmation, or  perform  any  other  office  on  Easter  Sunday, 
or  on  any  other  occasion,  where  this  floral  display  is 
attempted." 

63 


64  THE   HOOSIERS 

Bishop  Upfold  greatly  modified  his  views 
before  his  death,  in  1872;  but  this  declara- 
tion is  expressive  of  the  general  religious 
attitude  of  the  earlier  Indianians  ;  it  was  Protes- 
tant, intensely  Protestant.  The  religious  phe- 
nomena observable  in  the  State  are  not  complex 
and  are  readily  explained.  The  early  French 
were,  of  course,  Roman  Catholics,  and  their 
first  priests  were  of  the  heroic  type  that  had  its 
highest  expression  in  Marquette  and  Joliet,  and 
hardly  less  notably  in  Father  Sorin  of  the  Order 
of  the  Holy  Cross,  who  founded,  in  Northern 
Indiana,  Notre  Dame  University,  and  lived  to 
see  it  one  of  the  great  Catholic  schools  of  the 
continent.  But  the  prevalent  religious  ideas 
of  the  Hoosiers  were  not  inherited  from  the 
early  French  settlers.  North  Carolina  contrib- 
uted members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  to  the 
new  territory,  and  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and 
Pennsylvania  sent  Methodists,  Presbyterians,  and 
Baptists,  members  of  the  sect  established  by 
Alexander  Campbell,  and  German  Lutherans. 
Episcopalians  were  few  among  the  first  Indiana 
colonists.  The  diocese  of  Indiana  was  created 
in  1838,  and  many  earnest  men  have  given  their 


BR1NGERS  OF  THE  LIGHT  6$ 

labor  to  its  service  first  and  last ;  but  the  slow 
progress  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the  common- 
wealth has  been  due  to  conditions  antedating  the 
settlement  of  the  Ohio  Valley,  running  back, 
indeed,  to  the  efforts  of  James  I.  to  establish 
Scotch  and  English  colonies  in  Ireland,  the  most 
turbulent  part  of  his  kingdom,  and  thus  forming 
the  base  for  a  migration  to  America  that  was 
to  color  the  life  and  thought  of  a  vast  area  of 
new  soil.  As  so  large  a  proportion  of  the 
pioneers  had  rejected  apostolic  succession  in 
the  Old  World,  they  saw  no  reason  for  accept- 
ing it  in  the  Western  wilderness.  The  rugged 
apostles  of  Methodism,  and  the  less  rugged 
but  equally  diligent  and  earnest  preachers  of 
Presbyterianism,  were  leaders  in  the  strenuous 
religious  labors  of  the  early  years  of  the  cen- 
tury. The  advance  guard  of  these  two  religious 
bodies  did  not  always  dwell  together  in  unity ; 
in  educational  work,  for  example,  envy,  hatred, 
and  malice  were  sometimes  awakened.  The 
Rev.  F.  C.  Holliday,  writing  in  I8/2,1  com- 
plained of  the  self-complacency  with  which  the 
leading  Presbyterians  at  the  West  had  assumed 

1  "  Indiana  Methodism,"  p.  317. 

F 


66  THE  HOOSIERS 

authority  in  educational  matters,  and  "  the  quiet 
unscrupulousness  with  which  they  seized  upon 
the  trust  funds  of  the  States  for  school  purposes, 
and  made  these  schools  as  strictly  denomina- 
tional as  though  the  funds  had  been  exclusively 
contributed  by  members  of  their  own  com- 
munion." It  is  true  that  Presbyterians  con- 
trolled the  State  University  in  its  early  years, 
but  this  was  due  to  their  zeal  in  education 
and  to  the  exceptional  fitness  of  many  Presby- 
terian clergymen  for  teaching.  Princeton  ex- 
tended a  friendly  hand  to  the  Presbyterians  who 
were  struggling  in  the  new  State,  and  sent,  among 
others,  the  Rev.  George  Bush  (1796-1859),  who 
reached  Indianapolis  in  1824,  and  two  years 
later  shocked  his  congregation  in  the  malarious 
village  by  denying  that  there  was  any  authority 
of  Scripture  for  the  Presbyterian  form  of  church 
government.1  His  views  became  increasingly 
radical  and  in  1829  he  left  Indiana,  accepted  the 
chair  of  Hebrew  and  Oriental  Literature  in  the 
University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and  be- 
came a  Swedenborgian.  He  was  a  life-long 
student  and  a  writer  of  recognized  ability. 

1  Edson's  "  Early  Indiana  Presbyterianism,"  p.  171. 


BRINGERS   OF  THE   LIGHT  67 

The  Baptists  organized  the  first  Protestant 
church  in  Indiana  in  1798.  The  Methodists 
formed  a  society  in  1803,  and  in  1805  Peter 
Cartwright,  one  of  the  great  pioneer  Metho- 
dist evangelists,  was  at  work  in  the  State. 
The  oldest  Presbyterian  society  was  formed 
in  1806,  near  Vincennes,  then  the  capital,  and 
William  Henry  Harrison,  the  governor,  who 
had  married  a  Presbyterian  wife,  was  num- 
bered among  its  parishioners.1  The  very  nature 
of  the  pioneer  life  compelled  the  simplest  of 
religious  as  well  as  of  social  observances. 
The  meeting-houses  were  of  logs,  and  the 
ministers  were  often  tillers  of  the  soil.  One 
of  the  early  Presbyterian  clergymen  aided  the 
support  of  his  family  by  farming,  writing  the 
deeds,  wills,  and  other  formal  papers  of  his 
neighbors,  by  teaching  singing,  and  by  making 
shoes,  and  from  all  these  sources  of  labor, 
including  his  pay  as  minister,  he  averaged 
only  $80  a  year  for  a  period  of  sixteen 
years.  Father  (the  Rev.  James)  Havens, 
one  of  the  famous  apostles  of  Methodism, 

1  Evans's  "  Pioneer  Preachers,"  p.  43  ;   Edson's  "  Early  Indi- 
ana Presbyterianism,"  p.  40. 


68  THE   HOOSIERS 

who,  in  1824,  rode  what  was  known  as  the 
Connersville  circuit,  embracing  several  county 
seats,  received  $5  6.06 \  for  his  year's  services. 
This  does  not  indicate  indifference  among  the 
scattered  flock,  but  a  lack  of  actual  money. 
Instances  are  reported  of  men  splitting  rails 
or  working  in  the  harvest  field  at  fifty  cents 
a  day  in  order  to  aid  their  ministers.  Meet- 
ings were  held  in  wayside  cabins,  in  which 
the  near  neighbors  gathered,  and  after  the 
service  the  housewife  prepared  a  meal  for  the 
clerical  guest,  and  for  those  of  the  little  con- 
gregation who  remained.  The  ministers  of 
the  day  were  not  always  profound  scholars, 
but  they  were  light-bearers,  who  went  ahead 
of  the  schoolmasters,  communicating  to  scores 
of  the  youth  of  the  new  land  an  interest  in 
the  world  of  men  and  books.  It  has  been 
said  that  three-fourths  of  the  early  students 
of  Asbury  (DePauw)  University  came  from 
homes  that  were  visited  by  the  itinerant 
Methodist  preachers.1 

Ministers  were  required  to  be  extemporane- 
ous speakers,  and  they  often  indulged  in  joint 

1  Goodwin's  "  Heroic  Women  of  Indiana  Methodism,"  p.  9. 


BRINGERS   OF  THE   LIGHT  69 

debates  that  aroused  the  greatest  interest. 
These  contests  were  markedly  frequent  dur- 
ing the  period  in  which  the  "  Campbellite " 
movement  gathered  force  and  began  to  at- 
tract members  of  the  older  religious  societies. 
Lay  discussion  was  common,  and  the  free 
interpretation  of  the  Bible  urged  by  the 
Campbellites  encouraged  it.  "  Revivals "  and 
camp-meetings  were  conducted  frequently,  and 
were  often  attended  with  great  excitement. 
During  the  first  quarter  of  the  century  reli- 
gious enthusiasm  manifested  itself  with  an  ex- 
cess and  abandon  that  were  unknown  in  politics. 
"  Father "  was  often  prefixed  to  the  names  of 
the  venerable  pioneer  ministers  as  a  mark  of 
affection,  and  in  recognition  of  long  service. 
This  was  not  unusual  among  the  Methodists, 
and  even  the  Presbyterians  occasionally  be- 
stowed the  term  on  some  of  their  old  and 
worn  missionaries  of  the  early  days.  Many 
of  these  men  lived  until  late  in  the  century, 
and  saw  the  theology  of  their  young  manhood 
altered  or  superseded,  and  amid  new  men 
and  new  manners  became  almost  strangers  in 
the  land  they  had  first  known  as  a  wilderness. 


70  THE   HOOSIERS 

Great  care  had  been  taken  to  assure  to  the 
Northwest  religious  liberty  and  free  schools. 
The  ordinance  of  1787  touched  directly  on 
the  questions  of  religion  and  education  in  the 
Northwest  Territory.  "  No  person,"  it  de- 
clared, "  demeaning  himself  in  a  peaceable, 
orderly  manner  shall  ever  be  molested  on 
account  of  his  mode  of  worship  or  religious 
sentiments  in  the  said  territory ;  "  and  "  reli- 
gion, morality  and  knowledge  being  necessary 
to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of 
mankind,  schools  and  the  means  of  education 
shall  be  forever  encouraged."  The  ordinance 
has  clearly  been  one  of  the  great  guiding 
influences  of  the  nation.  It  prepared  the  way 
in  the  Ohio  Valley  for  the  attitude  of  the 
people  toward  slavery ;  and  its  assurance  of 
religious  freedom  and  friendliness  to  learning 
brought  to  the  new  territory  the  benefit  of 
the  experience  of  those  who  had  striven  for 
such  liberties  and  advantages  in  the  seaboard 
colonies.  The  history  of  civilization  in  Indiana 
may  be  said  to  date  from  its  passage.  When, 
in  1804,  Congress  provided  for  the  disposal 
of  public  lands  in  the  districts  of  Detroit, 


OF  THE  LIGHT  71 

Kaskaskia,  and  Vincennes,  the  act  carried  with 
it  a  reservation  of  the  sixteenth  section  in 
each  township  for  the  support  of  schools,  and 
also  an  entire  township  in  each  land  district 
for  the  use  of  a  seminary  of  learning;  and 
later,  the  act  of  1816  that  raised  Indiana 
Territory  to  statehood,  provided  "  that  one 
entire  township,  which  shall  be  designated  by 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  one  heretofore  reserved  for  that 
purpose,  shall  be  reserved  for  the  use  of  a 
seminary  of  learning,  to  be  appropriated  solely 
to  the  use  of  such  seminary."  Under  the  first 
law  Albert  Gallatin,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
selected  a  township  in  Gibson  County ;  and, 
following  further  the  direction  of  Congress, 
Governor  Harrison  approved,  in  1806,  an  act 
of  the  territorial  legislature,  incorporating  Vin- 
cennes University,  which  was  not,  however, 
fully  open  until  1810.  The  territorial  legis- 
lators believed  that  it  would  serve  a  good 
purpose  to  admit  Indian  youth  to  the  privi- 
leges of  the  school,  and  the  law  enjoined  the 
trustees  "  to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to 
induce  the  said  aborigines  to  send  their  chil- 


72  THE   HOOSIERS 

dren  to  the  University  for  education,  who, 
when  sent,  shall  be  maintained,  clothed,  and 
educated  at  the  expense  of  said  institution." 1 
Only  one  Indian  ever  availed  himself  of  this 
offer.  In  1822  a  law  was  enacted  calling  for 
the  sale  of  the  Gibson  County  lands  and  the 
use  of  the  proceeds  for  the  State  seminary 
already  planned  at  Bloomington.  Thus  the 
State  boldly  confiscated  the  fief  of  one  insti- 
tution and  turned  it  over  to  another  —  an 
act  that  led  to  long  litigation ;  and  though 
Vincennes  University  was  partially  successful 
in  the  courts,  its  revenue  was  curtailed  and  per- 
manent injury  resulted.  It  continues,  however, 
in  spite  of  reverses  a  lively  member  of  the  com- 
pany of  Indiana  schools  of  the  preparatory  type. 
Under  the  act  of  1816  President  Monroe 
designated  Perry  Township,  in  the  county 
which  was  named  for  him  when,  in  1818, 
Orange  County  was  divided.2  The  selection 
of  the  "seminary  township"  became  of  great 
importance,  for  it  determined  not  merely  the 
location  of  the  contemplated  seminary,  but  of 

1  Woodburn's  "  Higher  Education  in  Indiana,"  p.  31. 

2  Woodburn,  p.  75. 


BRINGERS   OF  THE   LIGHT  73 

the  State  University,  into  which  it  grew. 
Efforts  have  been  made  repeatedly  to  remove 
the  institution  from  Bloomington,  the  town 
that  rose  about  it ;  but  they  have  been  unavail- 
ing. The  site  chosen  by  President  Monroe, 
as  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  foresee,  was 
not  to  remain  the  most  fortunate  in  point 
of  convenience  and  accessibility ;  but  Monroe 
County  has  clung  tenaciously  to  the  honor 
conferred  upon  her,  and  seems  destined  to 
carry  her  dignity  through  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. The  first  principal  of  the  seminary  was 
Baynard  Rush  Hall  (1798-1865),  the  son  of 
a  Philadelphia  physician.  He  was  a  graduate 
of  Union  College  and  of  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary.  He  was  not  only  an  early 
and  valuable  teacher,  but  a  pioneer  author. 
One  of  his  books  "  The  New  Purchase ;  or 
Seven  and  a  Half  Years  in  the  Far  West" 
contains  a  vast  amount  of  information  touch- 
ing pioneer  customs ;  and  while  it  is  not  always 
wholly  good-natured,  it  is  written  in  the  main 
with  spirit  and  humor.1  He  declared  his  belief 

1  In  Dr.  Hall's  narrative  "  Woodville,"  "  Spiceburg,"  "  Sugar- 
town,"  "  Sproutsburg,"  and  "  Timberopolis "  are   respectively 


74  THE   HOOSIERS 

that  he  was  "the  very  first  man  since  the 
creation  of  the  world  that  read  Greek  in 
the  New  Purchase  " ;  which  is  extravagant,  as 
many  of  the  earlier  Protestant  ministers  were 
doubtless  learned  in  the  languages,  even  if 
the  distinction  of  which  he  boasted  did  not 
belong  to  some  Roman  Catholic  missionary. 
Ten  boys  and  young  men  were  all  that  were 
admitted  to  the  new  seminary  when  it  opened, 
May  i,  1824.  The  standards  of  admission 
seemed  wholly  novel  and  unnecessary.  "  Daddy 
says  he  doesn't  see  no  sort  a  use  in  the  high 
larn'd  things,  and  he  wants  me  to  larn  Inglish 
only,  and  book-keepin',  and  surveying  so  as 
to  'tend  store  and  run  a  line,"  was  the  tone 
of  protest  heard  from  many  applicants,  as 
reported  by  Hall  in  the  "  New  Purchase." 
Local  politicians,  viewing  the  new  school  as 
something  exclusive  and  aristocratic,  declared 
that  "  it  was  a  right  smart  chance  better  to 
have  no  college  nohow,  if  all  folks  hadn't 

Bloomington,  Spencer,  Crawfordsville,  Lafayette,  and  Indian- 
apolis. The  author  assumes  the  names  "  Carlton "  and  "  Mr. 
Clarence."  "Cutswell"  became  Governor  Whitcomb;  "The 
Rev.  James  Hilsbury  "  is  the  Rev.  Isaac  Reed  ;  "  Dr.  Bloduplex  " 
is  Dr.  Wiley,  and  "  Dr.  Shrub  "  is  the  Rev.  George  Bush. 


BRINGERS   OF  THE   LIGHT  75 

equal  right  to  larn  what  they  most  liked  best." 
Hall  was  the  sole  teacher  employed  for  the 
first  three  years,  and  during  this  period  the 
only  branches  taught  were  Greek  and  Latin.1 
While  he  thus  filled  all  the  offices  of  the 
seminary  in  the  woods,  he  organized  his  hand- 
ful of  students  into  a  literary  society,  which 
he  called  the  Henodelphisterian,  and  for  which 
he  made  the  rule  that  members  should  drop 
their  proper  appellations  while  in  the  academic 
shades  and  assume  Greek  or  Latin  names. 
"Thus,"  says  Judge  Banta,  in  his  reminis- 
cences, "every  member  of  the  society  was  an 
Ajax,  a  Pericles,  a  Timoleon."  Hall's  salary 
at  this  time  was  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars 
a  year,  and  there  is  ground  for  the  suspicion 
that  he  compensated  himself  for  deficiencies 
of  income  by  the  free  indulgence  of  his  sense 
of  humor.  As  the  young  gentlemen  of  the 
Henodelphisterian  were  occupied  out  of  school 
hours  in  wood-chopping  and  swine-herding,  the 
joke  was  rather  broad.  Additional  instruction 
was  demanded  in  the  third  year,  and  a  teacher 
of  mathematics  was  employed.  The  seminary 

1  Banta's  "  History  of  Indiana  University,"  p.  44. 


76  THE   HOOSIERS 

became  the  State  University  in  1838,  and 
among  the  first  trustees  were  David  Wallace, 
Governor  William  Hendricks,  Jesse  L.  Holman, 
Robert  Dale  Owen,  and  Richard  W.  Thomp- 
son, all  of  whom  were  otherwise  factors  in 
the  early  history  of  the  State,  and  in  several 
cases  members  of  families  distinguished  in 
subsequent  generations.  The  University's  in- 
fluence in  the  State  has  been  inestimable. 
It  has  usually  been  fortunate  in  its  adminis- 
trators, and  it  has  more  and  more  grown  to 
be  the  centre  of  agencies  related  to  the  better 
life  and  advancement  of  the  commonwealth. 
After  leaving  Indiana,  in  1831,  Hall  taught 
academies  at  Bordentown  and  Trenton,  New 
Jersey,  at  Poughkeepsie  and  Newburgh,  New 
York,  and  in  1852  he  became  principal  of  Park 
Institute,  Brooklyn.  He  received  the  degree 
of  A.M.  from  Princeton  and  of  D.D.  from 
Rutgers  College. 

So  early  as  1793  W.  Rivet,  a  French  mission- 
ary, "  a  polite,  well-educated,  and  liberal-minded 
enthusiast,  banished  to  this  country  by  the 
French  Revolution,"  had  conducted  a  school 
successfully  at  Vincennes.  A  system  of  county 


BRINGERS  OF  THE  LIGHT  77 

seminaries  was  introduced  early  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  and  such  schools  were  organized 
in  about  half  of  the  counties ;  and  between  1825 
and  1850  seventy- three  private  and  incorporated 
schools  were  opened,  traces  of  which  remain. 
These  were  known  sometimes  by  the  name  of 
the  founder,  or  were  identified  with  the  name 
of  the  town  in  which  they  were  situated.  The 
democratic  idea  that  secondary  and  higher  edu- 
cation could  not  properly  be  provided  by  the 
State  found  early  and  wide  acceptance.  It 
was  believed  that  the  obligation  of  higher  educa- 
tion should  be  undertaken  by  private  enterprise 
and  by  religious  organizations;  and  out  of 
this  spirit  came  a  group  of  seminaries,  similar 
to  those  of  the  counties,  and  representing  the 
several  churches  that  had  established  outposts 
on  the  frontier.  Many  of  these  grew  into 
colleges.  Hanover  and  Wabash  colleges  thus 
began  under  Presbyterian  auspices,  DePauw 
(Asbury)  University  under  the  Methodists,  and 
Franklin  College  under  the  Baptists  ;  and  while 
their  beginnings  were  not  strictly  in  the  semi- 
nary, Notre  Dame,  a  Catholic  university,  and 
Earlham  College,  an  institution  of  high  char- 


78  THE   HOOSIERS 

acter  allied  to  the  Society  of  Friends,  were  of 
like  origin.  Late  in  the  period  during  which 
the  seminaries  flourished  there  rose  a  number 
of  schools  for  women,  of  the  academic  grade, 
and  all  of  them  private  or  denominational. 

Institutions  for  higher  education  often  precede 
schools  for  primary  and  intermediate  training ; 
and  in  Indiana  care  had  been  taken  to  provide 
seminaries  and  colleges  before  the  important 
matter  of  establishing  a  common  school  system 
had  received  intelligent  attention.  David  Starr 
Jordan,  long  identified  with  education  in  In- 
diana, has  remarked  that  "the  growth  in  edu- 
cational systems  is  from  above  downwards.  In 
historical  sequence  Oxford  must  precede  Rugby, 
and  the  German  University  must  come  before 
the  gymnasium."  Nearly  half  a  century  after 
the  organization  of  the  first  territorial  govern- 
ment, no  system  of  common  schools  had  been 
perfected  in  Indiana.  Efforts  had  been  made 
and  the  subject  had  not  been  wholly  overlooked 
by  the  lawmakers,  but  a  prejudice  existed  in  the 
minds  of  many  against  free  schools  as  undemo- 
cratic. The  principle  that  enlightenment  must 
be  a  condition  precedent  to  the  intelligent  exer- 


BRINGERS   OF  THE  LIGHT  79 

else  of  citizenship  was  not  grasped  by  the  popu- 
lace ;  and  as  a  result  of  inattention  the  Hoosier, 
as  Eggleston's  schoolmaster  found  him,  was  ap- 
pearing on  the  scene.  And  yet,  in  1837,  while 
this  type  was  increasing,  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature declared,  during  the  discussion  of  a  pro- 
posed school  tax,  that  "  When  I  die  I  want  my 
epitaph  written,  *  Here  lies  an  enemy  to  free 
schools.'  "  ! 

But  while  many  enemies  of  common  school 
education  were  blocking  the  way,  an  unheralded 
champion  was  to  appear,  whose  identity  was  not 
generally  known  for  several  years  after  he  took 
the  field,  and  whose  services  entitle  him  to  first 
place  among  all  who  have  striven  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  learning  in  Indiana.  This  was 
Caleb  Mills,  a  native  of  New  Hampshire  (1806) 
and  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  (1828)  and  of 
Andover  Theological  Seminary  (1833).  In 
1831  he  had  made  a  tour  of  the  Southwest  in 
the  interest  of  Sunday-schools,  and  the  social 
and  intellectual  conditions  that  he  found  had 
deeply  impressed  him.  It  was  a  kind  provi- 
dence that  led  him  back  to  Indiana  in  1833,  and 

1  Boone's  "  History  of  Education  in  Indiana,"  p.  87. 


80  THE   HOOSIERS 

that  gave  to  his  adopted  State  the  benefit  of  his 
sympathy,  intelligence,  and  spirit  to  the  end  of 
his  life.  Among  his  classmates  at  Dartmouth 
were  Milo  Parker  Jewett,  who  helped  to  mould 
the  common  school  system  of  Ohio,  and  later 
became  the  first  president  of  Vassar  College, 
and  Edmund  O.  Hovey,  associated  with  Mills 
as  a  founder  of  Wabash  College,  and  long  a 
member  of  its  faculty.  Others  of  his  Indiana 
contemporaries  may  have  appreciated  the  grav- 
ity of  the  situation  as  fully  as  he,  but  it  was  left 
for  Mills  to  sound  the  alarm  and  lead  the  charge. 
In  the  first  year  after  he  entered  the  State  it 
was  averred  by  a  reputable  witness  that  "  only 
about  one  child  in  eight  between  five  and  fifteen 
years  is  able  to  read."  Dr.  Joseph  F.  Tuttle, 
the  honored  president  of  Wabash  College  for 
nearly  a  third  of  a  century,  described  the  con- 
dition of  affairs  in  these  words  :  — 

"In  1840  there  were  273,784  children  in  the  State  of 
school  age,  of  whom  only  48,180  attended  the  common 
schools.  One-seventh  of  the  adult  population  could  not 
read,  and  a  large  proportion  of  those  who  could  read  did 
so  imperfectly.  In  spite  of  the  constitutional  provision  of 
the  State  and  the  famous  '  sixteenth  section,'  the  common 
schools  of  Indiana  were  in  bad  condition.  As  late  as 


BRINGERS  OF  THE   LIGHT  8 1 

1846  the  State  rated  lowest  among  the  free  States  as  to 
its  popular  intelligence  and  means  of  popular  education. 
Even  the  capital  of  the  State  did  not  have  a  free  school 
until  1853,  and  then  one  was  kept  open  only  two  months."1 

The  census  of  1840  showed  the  illiteracy  of 
Indiana  to  be  14.32  per  cent.  The  return 
made  by  Illinois  at  this  time  was  but  little 
better,  while  Ohio,  on  the  eastern  boundary, 
showed  only  5.54  per  cent  of  illiterates.  Omit- 
ting Illinois  and  Indiana,  the  illiteracy  of  the 
Northern  States  was  only  one  in  forty ;  in  Illi- 
nois and  Indiana  it  was  one  in  seven.  In 
twenty-two  counties  of  Indiana  the  average 
illiteracy  was  more  than  26.5  per  cent.  Mont- 
gomery County,  the  home  of  Wabash  College, 
returned  at  this  time  one-fifth  of  her  adult 
population  as  illiterate,  and  Putnam  County, 
the  seat  of  Asbury  College,  returned  one-sixth 
of  her  adult  population  as  belonging  to  the 
same  class.2 

With  a  knowledge  of  these  facts  Mills  made 
and  published,  in  the  winter  of  1846,  "An 
Address  to  the  Legislature  of  Indiana,"  and 

1  "  Caleb  Mills  and  Indiana  Common  Schools,"  Tuttle  Mis- 
cellany, Vol.  38. 

2  Boone's  "  Education  in  Indiana,"  p.  87. 


82  THE   HOOSIERS 

signed  it  "One  of  the  People."  The  motto 
of  this,  as  of  his  five  succeeding  addresses, 
was,  "  Read,  discuss,  and  circulate."  These 
were  all  written  in  a  tone  well  calculated  to 
interest  and  arouse.  He  handled  his  statistics 
skilfully,  and  made  clear  the  alarming  prog- 
ress of  illiteracy  in  the  State.  He  was  as 
ready  with  suggestions  as  with  criticisms,  and 
his  several  papers  show  him  to  have  been 
thoroughly  informed  as  to  the  educational 
conditions  existing  in  every  part  of  the  coun- 
try. He  possessed  great  patience,  and  the 
series  of  pamphlets  was  marked  throughout 
by  good  temper.  He  wrote  in  a  deliberate 
manner,  rarely  showing  haste  or  anxiety,  as 
if  confident  of  the  impression  that  would  be 
created  by  fair  and  judicial  statement,  and 
with  faith  in  the  ultimate  triumph  of  his 
cause. 

In  the  year  following  the  publication  of 
his  first  address,  a  call  was  issued  for  a 
general  meeting  of  educators  to  be  held  at 
Indianapolis.  Among  those  interested  in  the 
movement  were  Ovid  Butler,  afterward  the 
generous  benefactor  of  Butler  College,  Henry 


BRINGERS   OF  THE  LIGHT  83 

Ward  Beecher,  pastor  of  the  Second  Presby- 
terian Church  of  Indianapolis,  and  John 
Coburn.  A  series  of  common  school  con- 
ventions followed,  and  was  of  great  value  in 
unifying  sentiment.  In  the  roll  of  those  who 
were  prominent  in  the  first  meeting  appeared 
the  names  of  Isaac  Blackford,  Oliver  H. 
Smith,  Calvin  Fletcher,  Jeremiah  Sullivan, 
Richard  W.  Thompson,  Solomon  Meredith, 
and  James  Blake,  who  were  of  the  saving 
remnant  of  their  time.  As  a  result  of  the 
agitation  by  Mills,  the  conventions  of  educators, 
and  the  ceaseless  activity  of  many  friends  of 
education,  the  legislature  of  1847-1848  author- 
ized the  people  to  express  their  sentiments  for 
or  against  a  tax  for  the  support  of  free  schools, 
at  the  election  to  be  held  in  the  fall  of  1848. 
This  was  a  presidential  year,  and  the  Mexi- 
can War  issues  were  discussed  bitterly  in  Indi- 
ana and  in  the  border  States,  where  slavery 
lifted  its  head  ominously ;  but  the  advocates 
of  free  schools  forced  their  issue  and  evoked 
from  the  enemy  a  variety  of  objections  which 
strike  the  sense  curiously  in  these  later  years. 
Should  the  industrious  be  taxed  to  support  the 


84  THE   HOOSIERS 

indolent  ?  Should  the  people  be  made  benevo- 
lent by  law  ?  There  was  priestcraft  in  the 
scheme ;  free  schools  were  merely  a  bait ;  the 
real  object  was  the  union  of  Church  and  State. 
Free  schools  would  make  education  too  com- 
mon, said  some ;  but  the  fiercest  antagonism 
came  from  the  class  for  whom  the  friends  of 
free  schools  were  laboring  —  the  wretchedly 
poor  and  ignorant.1  The  vote  on  the  school 
question  was  13,000  less  than  the  vote  for 
president  cast  the  same  day,  but  free  schools 
won,  the  affirmative  vote  being  78,523  ;  the 
negative  61,887  —  a  majority  of  16,636  for 
free  schools.  The  principal  opposition  to  free 
schools  was  manifested  in  the  counties  lying 
south  of  a  line  drawn  across  the  map  along 
the  southern  boundary  of  Marion  County,  in 
which  Indianapolis  is  situated.  The  northern 
counties  gave  a  majority  of  18,270  for  free 
schools;  while  the  southern  division,  deriving 
its  population  chiefly  from  the  South,  gave  a 
majority  of  1634  against  the  proposition.  Pro- 
fessor Boone  has  pointed  out  that  "  notwith- 
standing the  denser  population  having  the 

1  Boone,  supra,  p.  104  et  seq. 


BRINGERS  OF  THE   LIGHT  85 

older  settlements,  the  established  industries, 
and  all  of  the  colleges  but  one,  the  most  in- 
sistent opposition  to  free  schools  came  from 
the  southern  half  of  the  State.  The  influence 
of  local  seminaries  and  colleges  seems  to  have 
gone  for  nothing  in  the  movement  for  free 
elementary  schools." 

Mills  returned  imperturbably  to  the  attack 
in  a  third  message  carefully  scrutinizing  this 
vote,  and  showing  that  of  the  thirty-one  coun- 
ties voting  negatively,  twenty  were  below  the 
general  average  of  intelligence.  The  same 
measure  and  tolerance  that  characterized  all 
his  addresses  show  finely  in  this  paper,  in 
which  he  said  :  "  Let  the  record  of  the  affir- 
mative vote  stand  as  a  proof  of  the  existence 
in  our  State  of  the  spirit  of  '76.  I  rejoice 
that  we  have  such  indubitable  evidence  of  it. 
I  rejoice  that  we  have  been  furnished  with 
such  proof  that  we  are  not  the  degenerate 
sons  of  noble  fathers,  but  that  we  possess  the 
spirit  to  rebuke  selfishness  wherever  found, 
and  however  disguised  —  a  kindred  spirit  to 
that  which  pledged  life  and  fortune  and  sacred 
honor  to  the  cause  of  national  independence." 


86  THE   HOOSIERS 

A  new  school  law  was  framed  by  the  legis- 
lature in  1848-1849,  which  legalized  public 
taxation  for  schools  and  changed  the  existing 
system  of  school  administration ;  but  the  re- 
spective counties  were  to  be  free  to  adopt  or 
reject  the  law  as  they  might  see  fit,  and  it 
was  only  a  via  media,  beyond  which  lay  still 
much  ground  for  the  friends  of  education  to 
conquer.  At  an  election  held  in  August,  1849, 
the  counties  exercised  their  privilege  to  pass 
on  the  new  law.  Friends  and  foes  of  free 
schools  again  conducted  a  heated  campaign, 
both  sides  amplifying  the  arguments  advanced 
in  the  former  contest.  The  result  was  a  major- 
ity in  favor  of  the  law  of  15,767,  a  decrease 
from  the  majority  given  in  the  preceding 
election,  though  the  two  results  may  not  fairly 
be  compared,  owing  to  local  issues  and  ani- 
mosities. Fifty-nine  counties  voted  for  the 
law  and  thirty-one  against  it,  and  of  those 
that  rejected  it  twenty  were  in  the  southern 
half  of  the  State.  But  the  battle  was  more 
nearly  won  than  the  friends  of  education 
imagined.  The  constitutional  convention  that 
met  in  1850  prescribed  in  the  organic  law  of 


BRINGERS   OF  THE  LIGHT  87 

Indiana  a  foundation  which  subsequent  legis- 
latures have  built  upon  until  a  comprehensive 
system  of  schools,  intelligently  administered 
and  adequately  supported,  is  now  the  pride  of 
the  State.1  The  friends  of  education  were  to 
meet  with  further  trials  and  discouragements ; 
but  the  pioneer  work  in  Indiana  education 
closed  when  the  new  constitution  had  been 
ratified  by  the  people.  It  is  clear  that  any 
examination  of  the  forces  that  raised  Indiana 
into  an  enlightened  community  must  compre- 
hend a  knowledge  of  these  early  struggles, 
and  that  the  showier  attainments  of  later  citi- 
zens cannot  obscure  for  the  sincere  student 
the  services  of  those  who  dared  to  stand  for 
the  cause  of  free  schools  in  the  day  of  their 
peril. 

Mills  is  an  especially  admirable  and  winning 
figure.  He  was  hardly  equalled  for  sagacity 

1  In  1899  Indiana's  total  school  fund,  exclusive  of  college 
endowment,  was  $10,312,000.  The  school  revenue  for  that 
year,  from  all  sources,  was  $6,534,300.  The  census  of  1890 
showed  the  per  cent  of  illiterates  (ten  years  of  age  and  older) 
in  Indiana  to  be  6.32  ;  in  Ohio  5.24 ;  in  Illinois  5.25  ;  in 
Michigan  5.92.  In  Massachusetts  it  was  6.22 ;  in  New  York 
5.53  ;  in  New  Jersey  6.50  ;  in  Pennsylvania  6.78. 


88  THE  HOOSIERS 

and  suavity  among  his  contemporaries,  and  he 
brought  to  bear  upon  his  great  task  a  stead- 
fastness and  quiet  energy  that  no  defeat  could 
overcome.  The  State  recognized  his  abilities 
and  rewarded  his  services  by  confiding  to  him 
the  office  of  State  superintendent  of  public 
instruction,  of  which  he  was  the  second  in- 
cumbent. He  was  deeply  though  sanely  patri- 
otic, and  during  the  Civil  War  his  zeal  for  the 
Union  cause  was  so  marked  that  one  of  his 
associates  pronounced  him  the  best  recruiting 
officer  in  Indiana.  He  belonged  to  Wabash 
College,  and  continued  in  its  faculty  until  the 
end  of  his  long  life  (October  17,  1879),  giv- 
ing his  last  years,  with  characteristic  unselfish- 
ness and  devotion,  to  the  organization  of  the 
college  library. 

The  early  Hoosier  school-teachers  were  often 
poorly  trained,  and  sometimes  were  adventurers 
from  England,  Scotland,  or  Ireland.  Occasion- 
ally they  were  intemperate,  and  frequently  they 
were  eccentric  characters,  whose  vagaries  made 
them  ridiculous  before  their  pupils;  but  there 
were  competent  instructors  among  them.  One 
of  the  most  charming  figures  in  the  history  of 


BRINGERS   OF  THE  LIGHT  89 

cultivation  in  Indiana  is  Mrs.  Julia  L.  Dumont 
(1794-1857),  who  was  born  in  Ohio,  but  for 
forty-three  years  resided  at  Vevay,  in  Switzer- 
land County.  Among  all  the  light-bringers 
of  the  first  half  of  the  century  in  the  Hoosier 
country  Mrs.  Dumont  was  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  ;  and  she  was  easily  the  woman 
of  most  varied  accomplishment  in  the  Indiana 
of  her  day.  She  possessed  an  instinct  for 
teaching,  and  Dr.  Eggleston  remembers  that 
after  she  was  sixty  a  schoolroom  was  built  for 
her  beside  her  husband's  house,  and  that  she 
taught  the  Vevay  High  School  in  her  old  age, 
when  no  properly  qualified  teacher  appeared 
to  take  charge  of  it.  Dr.  Eggleston  draws  her 
portrait  from  memory  :  — 

"  I  can  see  the  wonderful  old  lady  now,  as  she  was  then, 
with  her  cape  pinned  awry,  rocking  her  splint-bottom 
chair  nervously  while  she  talked,  full  of  all  manner  of 
knowledge ;  gifted  with  something  very  like  eloquence  in 
speech,  abounding  in  affection  for  her  pupils  and  enthusi- 
asm in  teaching,  she  moved  us  strangely.  Being  infatuated 
with  her  we  became  fanatic  in  our  pursuit  of  knowledge, 
so  that  the  school  hours  were  not  enough,  and  we  had 
a  'lyceum'  in  the  evening  for  reading  '  compositions ' 
and  a  club  for  the  study  of  history.  If  a  recitation  be- 
came very  interesting,  the  entire  school  would  sometimes 


90  THE   HOOSIERS 

be  drawn  into  the  discussion  of  the  subject;  all  other 
lessons  went  to  the  wall ;  books  of  reference  were  brought 
out  of  her  library  ;  hours  were  consumed,  and  many  a  time 
the  school  session  was  prolonged  until  darkness  forced 
us  reluctantly  to  adjourn.  Mrs.  Dumont  was  the  ideal  of 
a  teacher  because  she  succeeded  in  forming  character. 
She  gave  her  pupils  unstinted  praise,  not  hypocritically, 
but  because  she  lovingly  saw  the  best  in  every  one.  We 
worked  in  the  sunshine.  A  dull  but  industrious  pupil 
was  praised  for  diligence,  a  bright  pupil  for  ability,  a  good 
one  Jor  general  excellence.  The  dullards  got  more  than 
r-for,  knowing  how  easily  such  an  one  is  dis- 
*Mrs.  Dumont  went  out  of  her  way  to  praise 
the  firl&llow  of  success  in  a  slow  scholar.  She  treated 
no  two  alike.  She  was  full  of  all  sorts  of  knack  and  tact, 
a  person  of  infinite  resource  for  calling  out  the  human 
spirit."1 

Her  natural  grace  and  refinement  gave  to  her 
discipline  many  a  novel  turn.  She  endeavored, 
and  most  happily  succeeded  in  the  attempt,  to 
link  the  life  of  the  time  and  place  to  "high 
thought  and  honorable  deeds."  Once,  during 
her  administration  of  the  Vevay  High  School, 
a  game  of  ball  proved  so  absorbing  that  the 
boys  were  an  hour  late  in  reporting  after  the 
noon  recess.  They  found  the  teacher  calmly 

1 "  Some  Western  Schoolmasters,"  Scribner's  Magazine, 
Vol.  1 7,  p.  747. 


BRINGERS  OF  THE   LIGHT  91 

enthroned  in  her  rocking-chair.  She  did  not 
ask  for  an  explanation,  but  spoke  to  them  firmly 
of  their  indifference ;  they  had  humiliated  her, 
she  said,  before  the  whole  town.  No  recesses 
would  be  allowed  for  a  week,  and  an  apol- 
ogy must  be  forthcoming  the  following  day. 
The  apology  was  duly  submitted  in  writing. 
The  remainder  of  the  incident  is  best  described 
in  Dr.  Eggleston's  own  words  :  — 

"The  morning  wore  on  without  recess.  The  lessons  were 
heard  as  usual.  As  the  noon  hour  drew  near,  Mrs.  Du- 
mont  rose  from  her  chair  and  went  into  the  library.  We 
all  felt  that  something  was  going  to  happen.  She  came 
out  with  a  copy  of  Shakespeare,  which  she  opened  at 
about  the  fifth  scene  of  the  fourth  act  of  the  second  part 
of  King  Henry  IV.  Giving  the  book  to  my  next  neighbor 
and  myself,  she  bade  us  read  the  scene,  alternating  with 
the  change  of  the  speaker.  You  remember  the  famous 
dialogue  in  the  scene  between  the  dying  king  and  the 
prince  who  has  prematurely  taken  the  crown  from  the  bed- 
side of  the  sleeping  king.  It  was  all  wonderfully  fresh  to 
us  and  to  our  schoolmates,  whose  interest  was  divided  be- 
tween the  scene  and  a  curiosity  as  to  the  use  the  teacher 
meant  to  make  of  it.  At  length  the  reader  who  took  the 

king's  part  read :  — 

"  <  O,  my  son  ! 

Heaven  put  it  in  thy  mind  to  take  it  hence, 
That  thou  mightst  win  the  more  thy  father's  love, 
Pleading  so  wisely  in  excuse  of  it.' 


Q2  THE  HOOSIERS 

Then  she  took  the  book  and  closed  it.  The  application 
was  evident  to  all,  but  she  made  us  a  touching  little  speech, 
full  of  affection,  and  afterward  restored  the  recess."1 

Mrs.  Dumont  was  the  first  Hoosier  to  become 
known  beyond  the  State  through  imaginative 
writing.  In  the  little  school  of  story-tellers  and 
poets  that  flourished  in  the  Ohio  Valley  in  its 
early  history,  she  was  one  of  the  chief  figures. 
It  had  not  then  become  the  fashion  to  transcribe 
with  fidelity  our  American  local  life,  and  her 
prose  sketches  usually  reflected  nothing  of  the 
pioneer  times.  Her  "  Life  Sketches  from  Com- 
mon Paths :  A  Series  of  American  Tales,"  pub- 
lished at  New  York  in  1856,  is  in  the  best 
manner  of  the  day.  Western  is  italicized  in  the 
preface  of  "  Ashton  Gray,"  the  novelette  which 
closes  the  volume,  and  the  author  evidently  be- 
lieved that  she  was  making  a  record  of  the  life 
that  lay  about  her ;  but  after  all,  the  scene  is 
laid  in  Ohio  and  not  in  Indiana,  and  a  Western 
atmosphere  is  not  discernible.  The  hero  is 
the  traditional  hero  of  old  romance,  "whose 
innate  delicacy  was  refinement,  and  whose 
generous  impulses,  chivalry,"  and  whose  "ex- 

^•Scribner's,  supra. 


BRINGERS   OF  THE   LIGHT  93 

treme  beauty  "  was  a  subject  of  comment  from 
fair  lips.  It  is  not  surprising  that  Annabel,- 
"  the  dreamy,  the  impressible,  the  desolate 
Annabel,"  should  have  found  Ashton  "  her 
beau-ideal  of  the  distinctive  characteristics  of 
the  fearless  and  self-sustained  backwoodsman. 
.  .  .  The  untamed  horse  that  tosses  his  mane 
in  the  green  savannas  could  scarcely  have 
moved  with  more  freedom ;  and  the  perfect 
development  of  limb  and  muscle  evidently 
arose  from  the  conscious  vigor  and  habitual 
action  of  one  accustomed  to  tread,  not  the  gay 
saloon  and  prescribed  walks  of  fashion,  but 
the  rough  paths  of  danger,  and  the  limitless 
range  of  voiceless  solitudes."  Ashton  rescues 
three  children  from  a  burning  cabin,  using  a 
ladder,  in  keeping  with  the  best  traditions, 
thus  winning  the  heart  of  Annabel,  who  mar- 
ries him  clandestinely,  just  before  he  is  arrested 
for  murder.  He  is  acquitted  by  the  testimony 
of  his  supposed  father,  and  an  old  Indian  ap- 
pears opportunely  to  confess  that  Ashton  was 
really  the  son  of  Colonel  Ainsworth,  Annabel's 
guardian. 

There    was     a     particular    vocabulary    that 


94  THE   HOOSIERS 

belonged  to  this  school  of  romance,  and  Mrs. 
Dumont  employed  it  in  all  its  copiousness. 
When  rightly  used  it  minimized  the  impor- 
tance of  invention ;  and  it  was  better  adapted 
to  the  portrayal  of  delicate  and  shrinking  hero- 
ines and  noble  and  handsome  heroes,  than  to 
the  rougher  work  of  depicting  action.  A  nice 
instinct  was  essential  to  its  proper  use,  and 
no  one  of  her  generation  wielded  it  with  more 
grace  and  ease  than  Mrs.  Dumont.  Scott  and 
Irving  were  the  inspiration  of  the  school  in 
which  she  took  so  high  a  place ;  and  the  verse 
which  it  produced  so  abundantly  showed  fre- 
quently the  influence  of  Mrs.  Hemans.  Mrs. 
Dumont's  technical  skill  was  superior  to  that 
of  her  Western  contemporaries ;  but  it  is  idle 
and  ungracious  to  criticise  the  writings  of  one 
whose  talents  were  so  varied,  and  whose  life 
was  consecrated  to  good  works. 

Her  name  inevitably  suggests  that  of  an- 
other teacher,  her  kinswoman,  Miss  Catharine 
Merrill  (1824-1900),  who,  with  a  wider  field 
and  larger  opportunity,  filled  a  similar  place 
at  Indianapolis  for  fifty  years.  She  was  born 
at  Corydon,  the  old  capital.  Samuel  Merrill, 


BRINGERS   OF  THE   LIGHT  95 

her  father,  was  a  cultivated  man,  a  native  of 
Vermont,  and  an  early  settler  of  Indianapolis. 
He  subscribed  to  the  English  reviews  and 
owned  a  large  library,  whose  contents  circu- 
lated freely  among  the  pioneers.  He  had 
been  educated  at  Dartmouth,  and  occasion- 
ally taught  the  higher  branches,  but  he  was 
a  man  of  affairs,  served  the  public  in  impor- 
tant offices,  and  was  one  of  the  ablest  of  the 
State's  early  financiers.  The  daughter  taught 
English  literature  in  Butler  College  for  eighteen 
years,  and  during  this  time,  and  subsequently 
as  a  teacher  of  private  classes,  inculcated  in 
the  minds  of  three  generations  a  discriminating 
taste  for  literature.  Miss  Merrill  wrote  (1869) 
"  The  Soldier  of  Indiana,"  a  valuable  record 
of  the  State's  participation  in  the  war  of  the 
rebellion,  which  contains  much  biographical 
matter  that  is  nowhere  else  collected.  Mrs. 
Dumont  and  Miss  Merrill  afford  delightful 
illustrations  of  the  compelling  force  of  per- 
sonality. In  a  sense  one  succeeded  the  other, . 
and,  though  they  labored  in  different  fields, 
throughout  a  century  they  impressed  upon 
the  youth  of  the  commonwealth  the  nobility 


96  THE  HOOSIERS 

of   character  and   the  love   of   learning  which 
they  so  happily  combined  in  themselves. 

Samuel  K.  Hoshour  is  another  sterling  fig- 
ure in  Indiana  pedagogy.  He  was  a  native 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  a  minister,  first  in  the 
Lutheran  and  afterward  in  the  Disciples 
Church ;  but  he  was  a  school-teacher  first, 
last,  and  always,  and  taught  many  hundreds 
of  the  youth  of  Indiana.  He  was,  in  his  later 
years,  a  resident  of  Indianapolis,  and  died  there 
in  1883.  Oliver  P.  Morton,  Lew  Wallace,  and 
others  of  the  distinguished  men  of  the  State  sat 
under  his  teaching.  In  the  eyes  of  two  genera- 
tions he  was  the  embodiment  of  learning  and 
scholarship ;  and  he  retained  to  the  last  some- 
thing of  the  austerity  and  exaggerated  dignity 
of  the  old-fashioned  school-teacher.  He  was, 
indeed,  always  the  schoolmaster,  and  a  pedant, 
though  naively  seeking  to  avoid  the  appear- 
ance of  it.  He  was  a  linguist  of  wide  repu- 
tation, and  delighted  in  comparative  philology. 
.He  had  a  fancy  for  unusual  words,  and 
took  pleasure  in  illuminating  their  meanings 
from  obscure  origins.  He  wrote  a  book,  prized 
by  many  of  his  old  pupils,  called  "Altisonant 


BRINGERS  OF  THE   LIGHT  97 

Letters"  (1840),  which,  as  the  title  indicates, 
was  written  in  high-sounding  words.  It  is  in 
the  form  of  correspondence,  and  was  devised 
as  a  kind  of  philological  primer,  to  be  "  a 
stepping  stone  from  the  current  everyday 
English  to  the  Latin  and  Greek."  The  plan 
was  not  a  bad  one,  and  was  in  some  respects 
a  forerunner  of  the  inductive  methods  of  teach- 
ing languages  that  have  since  been  popular. 


CHAPTER   IV 

AN   EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM 

NEW  HARMONY,  the  scene  of  Robert  Owen's 
experiment  in  socialism,  lies  in  Posey  County, 
in  the  far  southwestern  corner  of  Indiana. 
The  village  is  without  direct  communication 
with  the  outer  world,  but  may  be  approached 
by  boat  on  the  Wabash  River,  or  by  a  branch 
railroad  which  ends  abruptly  at  New  Harmony 
after  a  rough  course  through  wheat  fields, 
which  are,  in  spring  and  summer,  a  charming 
feature  of  the  landscape  of  this  region.  George 
Rapp  gave  expression  to  his  peculiar  religious 
ideas  in  the  community  which  he  established 
there,  and  he  sold  his  large  estate  to  Owen, 
who  began  building  on  the  foundations  left 
by  Rapp  a  social  structure  after  plans  of  his 
own.  Owen's  ideas  are  not  strikingly  novel 
when  taken  in  connection  with  the  history  of 
socialism ;  but  the  movement  carried  to  Indi- 
ana many  distinguished  persons,  and  the  life 
98 


AN    EXPERIMENT   IN   SOCIALISM  99 

of  subsequent  generations  in  and  about  the 
village  has,  to  this  day,  been  colored  by  it. 

George  Rapp  came  to  the  United  States 
from  Germany,  in  1803,  in  search  of  a  more 
tolerant  home  for  the  sect  which  he  had 
founded.  He  purchased  a  tract  of  land  in 
Butler  County,  Pennsylvania,  and  during  the 
summer  of  1804  six  hundred  of  his  followers, 
chiefly  mechanics  and  laborers,  joined  him, 
and  in  the  following  year  the  community  known 
as  the  Harmony  Society  was  formally  organ- 
ized. The  members  were  banded  together  in 
a  Christian  brotherhood,  and  were  orthodox 
in  all  essentials.  Property  was  held  in  com- 
mon, and  thought  was  directed  away  from 
mundane  affairs  to  the  second  coming  of  the 
Lord,  which  Rapp  believed  to  be  imminent. 
The  members  experienced,  in  1807,  a  great 
spiritual  awakening,  and  one  of  its  results  was 
their  acceptance  of  celibacy  as  an  implied  if 
not  obligatory  tenet  of  the  sect. 

In  1814,  the  community  sold  the  greater 
part  of  its  holdings  of  real  estate  in  Pennsyl- 
vania and  purchased  30,000  acres  of  land  in 
Indiana,  of  which  Harmony  became  the  centre. 


100  THE   HOOSIERS 

The  following  year  the  Rappites  moved  to  the 
lower  Wabash  and  continued  in  a  new  wil- 
derness their  severe  labors  and  ascetic  prac- 
tices. They  marked  out  a  village  in  squares, 
with  broad  streets,  and  built  houses  in  which 
beauty  was  sacrificed  to  stability.  It  is  a  trib- 
ute to  their  excellent  workmanship  that  many 
of  these  structures  are  still  in*  use,  having 
survived  two  communistic  experiments  and 
falling  at  last  to  the  incidental  needs  of 
a  Western  village.  The  Rappites  had  been 
annoyed  during  their  sojourn  in  Pennsylvania 
by  unsympathetic  neighbors,  and  fearing  sim- 
ilar experiences  with  the  rough  characters 
that  roamed  the  Wabash  country  in  those 
days,  they  deemed  it  wise  to  prepare  a  de- 
fence. They  thereupon  built,  of  brick  and 
stone,  a  substantial  fortress  which  was  used  as 
a  granary.  The  walls  were  three  feet  thick 
and  the  loopholes  were  barred.  The  story 
that  this  building  was  connected  with  Rapp's 
house  by  an  underground  passage  is  authori- 
tatively denied  at  New  Harmony. 

The  Rappites  had  first  used  a  frame  building 
as  a  place  of  worship,  but  later  they  erected  a 


AN   EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM  IOI 

large  brick  meeting-house,  carving  on  the  pedi- 
ment above  the  main  door  a  wreath  and  a  rose, 
the  date,  1822,  and  the  inscription,  "  Mich  IV, 
8 ;  in  Memory  of  the  Harmony  Society ;  by 
George  Rapp,  1805."  The  colonists  were  in- 
dustrious and  thrifty.  They  cleared  the  land, 
planted  vineyards,  manufactured  woollen  and 
cotton  goods  and  shoes,  and  found  a  ready 
market  for  all  their  products.  The  original 
population  of  the  Pennsylvania  settlement  had 
been  about  six  hundred  persons ;  and  during 
the  community's  life  in  Indiana  accessions  of 
friends  from  Germany  increased  the  number 
of  members  to  between  seven  and  eight  hun- 
dred. In  1824  Rapp  again  decided  to  move, 
and  appointed  Richard  Flower  to  negotiate  a 
sale.  Flower  visited  Scotland,  sought  Robert 
Owen,  a  manufacturer  and  social  reformer, 
and  sold  him  the  Rappites'  land  for  $132,000. 
Subsequently  there  was  an  additional  sale  of 
live-stock,  tools,  and  merchandise  for  $50,000, 
so  that  the  total  of  Owen's  original  investment 
at  New  Harmony  was  $182,000.  The  Rap- 
pites thereupon  disappeared  from  Indiana, 
returning  to  Pennsylvania,  where  they  estab- 


102  THE  HOOSIERS 

lished  a  new  settlement  called  Economy,  and 
prospered  greatly. 

Robert  Owen  was  born  in  Wales,  March  14, 
1771.  His  father  was  a  saddler,  and  Robert 
began  his  career  under  no  favoring  circum- 
stances. He  became  interested  in  cotton  spin- 
ning, for  which  he  showed  genius  and  at  which 
he  made  a  fortune.  He  married  the  daughter 
of  David  Dale,  the  owner  of  extensive  cotton 
mills  at  New  Lanark,  on  the  Clyde,  became 
Dale's  successor,  and  with  growing  fortune 
gave  an  increasing  attention  to  social  and 
political  questions.  He  was  a  pioneer  in  the 
reform  of  factory  abuses ;  and  in  his  own 
establishment  at  New  Lanark  he  made  prac- 
tical application  of  his  theories.  He  visited 
the  Continent,  where  he  became  acquainted 
with  many  persons  of  note,  not  the  least  of 
these  being  Pestalozzi  and  Fellenberg;  he  was 
much  in  London,  usually  in  advocacy  of  some 
reform ;  he  acquired  skill  in  writing  and  speak- 
ing, and  taken  altogether  his  biography  gives 
the  impression  of  a  strong,  zealous,  and  inde- 
fatigable nature.  He  was  intense  and  uncom- 
promising, and,  it  must  be  confessed,  sadly 


AN   EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM  1 03 

lacking  in  humor.  He  expected  to  find  in 
the  new  world  larger  opportunities  for  the 
demonstration  of  his  principles.  The  New 
Harmony  incident  illustrates  a  curious  conflict 
between  the  ideal  and  the  practical  in  Owen. 
It  was  quite  like  him  to  undertake  the  planting 
of  a  communistic  settlement  in  America,  and 
to  invest  his  own  money  in  it ;  but  a  natural 
business  caution  checked  his  generous  impulses, 
and  while  he  extended  a  sweeping  invitation  to 
the  industrious  and  well-disposed  of  all  creeds 
to  join  him,  he  was  in  no  haste  to  divide  his 
property. 

Owen's  lectures  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  at  Washington,  February  5 
and  March  27,  1825,  before  audiences  com- 
posed of  the  famous  men  of  the  day,  gave 
wide  publicity  to  his  views.  He  displayed  a 
model  of  the  ideal  village  which  he  proposed 
to  found  on  the  Wabash.  The  community 
buildings  were  to  form  a  hollow  square  1000 
feet  long.  The  material  needs  of  his  proposed 
colony  were  all  provided  for  in  the  buildings 
of  his  model  village ;  and  he  announced  a 
comprehensive  system  of  education  in  which 


104  THE  HOOSIERS 

the  young  of  the  community  should  be  led 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  branches. 
Owen  had  announced  that  "  these  new  pro- 
ceedings," as  he  called  his  plans,  were  to  take 
effect  at  New  Harmony  —  he  gave  the  pre- 
fix to  Rapp's  name  for  the  place  —  in  April, 
1826.  He  spent  the  summer  of  1825  in 
England,  but  returned  to  America  in  the  fall, 
reaching  New  York  November  7.  His  hos- 
pitable invitation  had  awakened  the  interest 
of  a  large  number  of  persons,  ranging  from 
sincere  converts  to  eccentric  and  irresponsible 
vagabonds,  drawn  from  all  parts  of  the  United 
States  and  Europe.  What  is  known  in  New 
Harmony  literature  as  "  the  boat  load  of 
knowledge"  set  out  from  Pittsburg  in  De- 
cember, 1825.  About  thirty  people  assembled 
on  a  keel  boat,  which  they  made  comfortable 
for  the  voyage,  and  turned  toward  New  Har- 
mony. The  ice  closed  upon  them  near 
Beaver,  and  they  did  not  reach  their  desti- 
nation until  the  middle  of  January.  The 
passengers  included  Robert  Owen  and  his 
sons,  Robert  Dale  and  William,  William 
Maclure,  Thomas  Say,  Charles  A.  Lesueur, 


AN  EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM  105 

Achilles  Fretageot  and  wife,  Captain  Don- 
ald Macdonald,  Dr.  Gerard  Troost,  Phique- 
pal  d'Arusmont,  and  Stedman  Whitwell,  a 
London  architect.1  Joseph  Neef  followed  in 
the  spring,  and  Frances  Wright,  of  Nashoba 
fame,  who  married  d'Arusmont,  first  appeared 
there  in  the  second  year  of  the  community. 
Schoolcraft  and  Rafinesque  were  both  visit- 
ors at  New  Harmony,  but  not  during  the  life 
of  the  Owen  community,  though  Rafinesque 
has  been  erroneously  named  as  an  original 
member. 

The  strength  of  the  keel  boat's  contribution 
to  the  community  lay  in  special  scientific 
knowledge ;  and  if  Owen's  inclination  toward 
socialism  had  been  increased  by  the  success 
of  Rapp's  submissive  peasants,  he  erred  gravely 
in  his  own  choice  of  followers.  William  Maclure 
(1763-1840)  was  a  wealthy  Scotchman,  who 
turned  from  a  successful  mercantile  career  to 
the  natural  sciences.  He  first  visited  the 
United  States  in  the  last  years  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  and  planned  a  geographical 

1  One  of  the  passengers  on  "  the  boat  load  of  knowledge," 
Victor  Duclas,  is  still  living  (July,  1900)  at  New  Harmony. 


IO6  THE  HOOSIERS 

survey  of  the  whole  country.  He  explored 
at  his  own  expense  a  vast  territory,  and  pre- 
pared maps  showing  the  result  of  his  investi- 
gations. He  was  a  founder  of  the  Academy 
of  Natural  Sciences,  at  Philadelphia,  to  which 
he  gave  generously  of  his  fortune,  and  was  its 
president  for  more  than  twenty  years.  His 
friend,  Thomas  Say  (1787-1834),  called  "the 
father  of  American  zoology,"  was  also  con- 
nected with  the  Academy  in  its  formative 
years.  The  place  of  both  is  secure  in  the 
history  of  American  science.  Lesueur  came  to 
the  United  States  from  the  West  Indies.  His 
scientific  researches  had  included  extensive  in- 
vestigations in  Australia,  and  he  was  an  early, 
if  not  indeed  the  first,  student  of  the  Mound- 
builders'  remains  in  Indiana.  He  was  an  artist 
of  considerable  merit,  and  some  of  his  work 
may  be  seen  in  the  New  Harmony  library. 
Troost  (1776-1850)  was  a  scientist  of  wide  and 
exact  knowledge,  who  went  to  Tennessee  after 
the  collapse  of  New  Harmony,  taught  the 
sciences  for  many  years  in  the  University  of 
Nashville,  and  was  for  eighteen  years  State 
geologist.  Neef  was  a  native  of  Alsace.  He 


AN   EXPERIMENT   IN   SOCIALISM  IO/ 

had  been  a  teacher  in  Pestalozzi's  school,  in 
Switzerland,  and  met  there  his  wife,  who  was 
educated  under  the  direction  of  Madame  Pesta- 
lozzi.  They  removed  to  Philadelphia  immedi- 
ately after  their  marriage,  and  became  acquainted 
with  Maclure,  who,  like  Owen,  had  been  at- 
tracted by  the  Pestalozzi  system,  and  who 
persuaded  them  to  join  the  Owenites.  Little 
is  known  of  Macdonald,  though  there  is  a 
tradition  at  New  Harmony  that  he  returned  to 
Scotland  and  inherited  a  title  of  nobility. 

Owen's  followers  moved  into  the  houses 
that  had  been  vacated  by  Rapp's  colonists, 
and  set  about  organizing  the  new  community. 
On  April  27  Owen  addressed  them  in  the  Rapp- 
ite  church,  which  had  been  preempted  for  sec- 
tarian uses  and  dedicated  to  liberal  thought 
and  free  speech.  He  spoke  with  great  enthusi- 
asm, declaring  that  he  had  come  to  introduce 
a  new  and  enlightened  state  of  society,  elimi- 
nate ignorance  and  selfishness,  and  remove  all 
cause  for  contest  between  individuals ;  but  the 
change  from  the  new  to  the  old  could  not  be 
accomplished  in  a  day,  and  he  called  New 
Harmony  a  halfway  house  between  the  evils 


108  THE   HOOSIERS 

he  complained  of  and  the  ideal.  In  May,  the 
modus  vivendi  of  a  preliminary  society  was 
promulgated,  as  a  means  of  preparation  for 
the  perfect  community  to  which  Owen  looked 
forward.  Negroes  were  excluded  from  mem- 
bership, though  they  might  become  "  helpers," 
or  they  might  form  an  independent  community. 
Age  and  experience  alone  were  to  confer  prece- 
dence. For  the  first  year  a  committee  to  be 
appointed  by  the  founder  was  to  have  charge 
of  affairs,  and  later  the  society  might  elect 
three  representatives  of  this  council.  Members 
were  required  to  provide  their  own  household 
effects,  to  accept  houses  assigned  to  them,  and 
to  render  their  best  services  to  the  community. 
They  were  to  receive  credit  at  the  community 
store  for  their  labor,  which  was  to  be  appraised 
by  the  committee  of  management.  Members 
might  be  expelled  for  cause,  or  they  might 
voluntarily  retire  by  giving  a  week's  notice, 
receiving  in  merchandise  any  balance  that 
remained  to  their  credit.  Persons  wishing  to 
live  in  the  community  as  non-participants  in 
its  labors  might  do  so  by  paying  for  the 
privilege,  and  the  capital  of  any  who  cared  to 


AN   EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM  IOQ 

become  investors  would  be  received.  American 
products  were  to  have  the  preference  in  the 
purchase  of  supplies.  The  young  were  to  be 
drilled  in  military  tactics,  to  the  end  that  they 
might  be  of  service  to  their  country  in  emergen- 
cies, until  society  had  been  reformed  and  war 
made  unnecessary. 

Within  six  months  nearly  one  thousand  per- 
sons had  gathered  at  New  Harmony,  and  a 
considerable  proportion  of  these  seem  to  have 
been  incapable,  either  through  inexperience 
or  disinclination,  of  aiding  in  the  success  of 
Owen's  plans.  Rapp's  industries  had  cer- 
tainly not  fallen  into  the  hands  of  skilled  or 
adaptable  laborers.  Many  of  the  manufactories 
which  he  had  made  profitable  were  not  oper- 
ated under  the  new  regime,  and  less  than  a 
hundred  farm  laborers  volunteered  for  service 
in  carrying  on  the  plantations.  Plans  for  edu- 
cation and  social  pleasure  were  received  more 
kindly  than  those  requiring  skilled  labor.  All 
children  between  two  and  twelve  were  placed 
in  a  separate  house,  and  clothed,  lodged,  and 
educated  at  the  public  expense.  The  fall  of 
1825  found  130  children  so  cared  for,  and 


110  THE  HOOSIERS 

there  were  also  day  and  evening  schools  where 
old  and  young  alike  might  receive  elementary 
instruction.  A  band  was  organized  to  provide 
music,  and  Tuesday  evenings  were  set  apart 
for  balls  and  Friday  evenings  for  concerts. 
Wednesday  evenings  were  reserved  for  the 
more  serious  business  of  discussing  the  pur- 
poses of  the  society.  Military  exercises,  as 
proposed  by  Owen,  were  duly  conducted,  and 
companies  of  artillery  and  infantry  were  formed 
and  drilled. 

The  senior  Owen  was  absent  in  Scotland 
during  the  summer  and  fall  of  1825,  but  re- 
turned January  18,  1826,  and  was  received 
with  great  cordiality.  He  expressed  his  satis- 
faction with  the  progress  that  had  been  made 
during  his  absence,  and  in  a  few  days  announced 
that  he  felt  justified  in  suspending  the  pre- 
paratory stage  and  inaugurating  full  equality. 
A  new  constitution  was  adopted  February  5, 
after  careful  consideration  in  town  meetings. 
It  provided  for  community  of  property  and 
business  and  social  cooperation.  The  mem- 
bers were  to  dwell  together  as  one  family, 
and  no  discrimination  was  to  be  shown  on 


AN   EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM  III 

account  of  occupation.  Similar  houses  were 
to  be  provided  for  all,  and  no  differences  in 
food  or  clothing  were  to  be  permitted.  The 
community  was  to  be  divided  into  departments 
of  Agriculture,  Manufactures  and  Mechanics, 
Literature  and  Science,  Domestic  and  General 
Economy,  Education  and  Commerce.  Super- 
intendents for  these  departments  were  to  be 
chosen  by  an  assembly  consisting  of  all  adult 
members  of  the  community ;  but  the  individ- 
uals in  the  several  departments  might  select 
their  own  foremen.  A  schism  occurred  before 
this  constitution  had  been  signed  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  preliminary  society.  The  exact 
cause  is  not  assigned  in  the  Gazette,  the  offi- 
cial organ  of  the  society,  conducted  by  Robert 
Dale  Owen,  which  announced,  February  15, 
that  a  new  community  was  about  to  be  formed 
within  two  miles  of  the  village  "by  some  re- 
spectable families  who  were  members  of  the 
preliminary  society,  but  from  conscientious 
motives  have  declined  signing  the  new  con- 
stitution." Two  new  communities  were,  in- 
deed, organized,  one  called  Macluria  and  the 
other  Feiba  Peveli.  This  latter  name  was 


112  THE   HOOSIERS 

coined  after  an  intricate  system  of  geographi- 
cal nomenclature,  invented  by  a  member  of  the 
society,  by  which  the  latitude  and  longitude  of 
any  place  could  be  represented.  The  sole  di- 
rection of  the  community  was  intrusted  to 
Robert  Owen  two  weeks  after  the  reorganiza- 
tion, the  inference  from  this  fact  being  that  the 
separation  of  the  two  branches  had  eliminated 
those  who  were  antagonistic  to  the  founder. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  year  the  population 
was  distributed  about  as  follows :  the  original 
New  Harmony  settlement,  800;  Macluria,  120; 
Feiba  Peveli,  60  or  70.  The  relations  be- 
tween Owen  and  the  seceders  were  apparently 
friendly.  In  an  address  delivered  at  New 
Harmony,  May  9,  he  spoke  with  satisfaction 
ipf  the  success  of  his  undertaking,  saying  that 
his  hopes  had  been  surpassed,  and  mention- 
ing both  Macluria  and  Feiba  Peveli  with  ap- 
proval. At  Macluria  temporary  cabins  had 
been  built  and  more  land  had  been  cultivated 
than  was  necessary  to  sustain  the  members. 
Spinning  and  weaving  were  practised  by  the 
women  and  children,  who  produced  cloth  in 
excess  of  their  requirements.  Feiba  Peveli  was 


AN   EXPERIMENT  IN  SOCIALISM  113 

a  farming  and  gardening  community,  reported 
by  Owen  to  be  doing  well. 

At  this  time  the  first  Rappite  church  was 
given  up  to  carpentry  and  shoemaking.  Boys 
received  industrial  training  there  and  slept  in 
the  loft.  The  second  and  more  pretentious 
edifice  had  become  a  town  hall,  used  for 
lectures,  open  discussions,  dances,  and  concerts. 
Rapp's  former  home  —  the  best  residence  in 
the  place  —  was  occupied  by  Maclure,  who  had 
given  $45,000  to  assist  Owen  in  his  enterprise. 
Owen  lived  at  the  tavern,  which  was  conducted 
by  the  society.  The  rank  and  file  were  ac- 
commodated in  four  boarding-houses  pending 
changes  that  would  bring  all  together  at  a  com- 
mon table.  A  uniform  dress  for  the  members 
had  been  adopted,  but  it  was  not  generally 
worn.  Wide  trousers,  buttoned  over  a  short 
collarless  jacket,  were  prescribed  for  the  men  ; 
the  women  wore  a  coat  reaching  to  the  knee, 
and  pantalettes.  Bernard,  Duke  of  Saxe-Wei- 
mar,  who  visited  New  Harmony  in  the  spring 
of  1826,  and  wrote  a  most  entertaining  account 
of  the  community,  described  the  costume  and 
remarked  that  the  members  who  had  already 


114  THE  HOOSIERS 

donned  it  were  of  the  higher  social  class, 
and  that  these  did  not,  in  the  gatherings  at 
the  public  hall,  mingle  with  the  ruder  element. 
Previous  conditions  and  employments  were  evi- 
dently remembered  in  the  community,  in  spite 
'of  the  founder's  insistence  that  there  should 
be  no  discrimination.  Many  in  the  settlement 
found  the  practical  details  of  community  life 
exceedingly  irksome ;  and  one,  a  Russian  lady, 
confided  to  the  German  nobleman  her  disgust 
with  New  Harmony,  stating  that  "some  of 
the  society  were  too  low,  and  the  table  was  be- 
low all  criticism." 

The  educational  features  of  the  community 
were,  from  all  testimony,  a  great  failure  and 
disappointment.  It  was  one  thing  to  assemble 
distinguished  scientists,  and  quite  another  to 
organize  them  into  an  effectiveTeaching  corps. 
The  school  taught  by  d'Arusmont  lasted  but 
a  short  time,  and  Robert  Dale  Owen,  who 
was  himself  a  teacher  in  one  of  the  commu- 
nity schools,  while  admitting  the  man's  good 
qualities,  described  him  as  "a  wrong-headed 
genius,  whose  extravagance  and  wilfulness  and 
inordinate  self-conceit  destroyed  his  useful- 


AN  EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM  115 

ness."  Neef  had  been  an  officer  under 
Napoleon,  and  his  rough  military  habits  had 
not  been  wholly,  corrected  by  his  subsequent 
association  with  Pestalozzi.  The  Duke  of  Saxe- 
Weimar  gives  a  lively  picture  of  him,  drilling 
his  boy  pupils  in  military  tactics  as  he  led 
them  to  the  performance  of  certain  labors  in 
the  village.  Maclure,  Say,  and  Troost  did 
\:  not  engage  actively  in  teaching.  Paul  Brown 
stated,  in  a  pamphlet  assailing  the  society, 
that  he  began  teaching  in  the  boarding-school 
in  September,  1826;  but  from  his  own  story 
Brown  was  chiefly  employed  with  meditations 
on  the  evils  of  the  place,  and  his  manifesta- 
tions of  temper  argue  against  his  value  as 
a  teacher.  Madame  Fretageot  was  associated 
with  Neef,  and  the  two  had  charge  of  the 
boarding-school.  Madame  Neef  was  not  regu- 
larly employed  as  a  teacher,  but  sometimes 
assisted  her  husband. 

Robert  Owen's  unfriendly  attitude  toward 
religion  had  awakened  hostility  in  England 
before  he  came  to  the  United  States.  Packard, 
one  of  his  biographers,  expresses  no  doubt  as 
to  Owen's  disbelief  in  the  inspiration  of  the 


Il6  THE  HOOSIERS 

Bible  and  in  the  divine  origin  of  Christianity. 
Lloyd  Jones,  the  writer  of  another  life  of  Owen, 
seeks  to  mitigate  the  effect  of  some  of  the  state- 
ments in  Owen's  "  New  Moral  World  "  ;  but  it 
is  sufficiently  clear  that  when  he  was  at  the 
height  of  his  fame  and  usefulness  in  England, 
Owen  estranged  many  of  his  most  influential 
friends  and  admirers  by  his  flings  at  religion, 
which  were  serious  enough  to  arouse  the  wrath 
of  an  occasional  heresy-hunting  bishop.  Sargent, 
the  author  of  "  Robert  Owen  and  his  Philos- 
ophy," says  that  Owen  suffered  for  his  religious 
opinions  "  neglect,  hatred,  contempt,  calumny, 
and  all  the  evils  that  follow  the  excommuni- 
cated man."  In  his  "  Declaration  of  Mental 
Independence"  at  New  Harmony,  July  4,  1826, 
Owen  inveighed  against  "  a  trinity  of  the  most 
monstrous  evils  that  could  be  combined  to  inflict 
mental  and  physical  evil  upon  the  whole  race. 
I  refer  to  private  or  individual  property,  absurd 
and  irrational  systems  of  religion,  and  marriage 
founded  on  individual  property  combined  with 
some  of  these  irrational  systems  of  religion " 
—  a  statement  that  was  somewhat  advanced 
for  the  Wabash  Valley  of  that  period.  He 


AN   EXPERIMENT   IN   SOCIALISM 

seemed  to  ignore  the  spiritual  element  in  man, 
though,  according  to  Sargent,  he  expressed  in 
his  old  age  his  belief  that  a  Divine  Providence 
had  guided  him  through  his  long  career;  and 
late  in  life  he  became  a  convert  to  spiritualism. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  Owen  ever  held  loose 
ideas  of  the  relations  of  the  sexes,  though  such 
opinions  were  attributed  to  him.  He  believed 
that  marriage  should  be  founded  on  mutual 
sympathy  and  congeniality,  and  he  wished  the 
imagination  to  be  excluded  and  judgment  made 
the  sole  guide  in  such  matters.  This,  like  many 
of  his  teachings,  seems  equivocal;  but  he  be- 
lieved that  where  these  prerequisites  ceased  to 
exist  it  should  be  possible  to  terminate  a  mar- 
riage. Owen  and  Maclure  both  believed  fully 
in  the  equality  of  the  sexes.  New  Harmony 
schools  were  co-educational,  and  women  were 
admitted  to  all  the  councils  of  the  society.  It 
is  not  clear  that  they  were  always  permitted  to 
vote,  though  widows  succeeded  to  the  suffrages 
of  their  husbands.  A  woman's  society  was  or- 
ganized, and  is  supposed  to  have  been  similar 
to  literary  clubs  as  now  known,  though  there 
is  but  one  reference  to  the  organization  in 


Il8  THE   HOOSIERS 

the  Gazette  —  a  notice  of  the  postponement 
of  a  meeting  in  November,  1825. 

Owen's  refusal  to  make  a  formal  transfer 
of  his  property  to  the  community  continued 
to  be  a  cause  of  dissatisfaction.  The  founder 
spoke  hopefully  of  the  future,  but  he  took  care 
that  his  enthusiasm  should  not  run  away  with 
his  judgment,  so  he  continued  to  hold  his  little 
principality  in  fee  simple.  When  questioned  as 
to  his  intentions  in  this  particular,  he  replied,  as 
officially  reported  in  the  Gazette  of  August  30, 
1826:  "I  shall  be  ready  to  form  such  a  com- 
munity whenever  you  are  ready  for  it.  ... 
But  progress  must  be  made  in  community  edu- 
cation before  all  parties  can  be  prepared  for 
a  community  of  common  property.''  The  as- 
sembly thereupon  adopted  a  resolution  that 
they  meet  three  evenings  in  the  week  for  com- 
munity education,  but  this  was  evidently  re- 
garded by  the  members  as  a  severe  penalty  to 
pay  for  the  cause  of  socialism.  Robert  Dale 
Owen  wrote  that  the  meetings  continued  "  with 
gradually  lessening  numbers." 

Troubles  came  thick  and  fast  in  the  fall 
of  1826.  Several  adventurers  openly  tried  to 


AN   EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM  119 

defraud  Owen,  and  an  era  of  suspicion  began. 
A  man  named  Taylor  joined  the  community, 
at  Owen's  invitation,  to  take  charge  of  the  in- 
dustries, but  after  getting  possession  of  a  tract 
of  land  he  started  a  distillery,  greatly  to  the 
founder's  annoyance.  Brown  describes  with 
great  particularity  the  unhappy  condition  that 
prevailed  during  the  fall  and  winter  of  1826. 
He  complains  that  Owen  was  living  in  luxury 
at  the  tavern,  while  the  laborers  in  the  large 
boarding-houses  fared  badly.  Although  there 
were  several  professional  gardeners  in  the  com- 
|  munity,  there  was  a  lack  of  vegetables,  and  the 
necessities  were  doled  out  sparingly.  Brown 
N  believed  that  the  founder  was  trying  to  retrieve 
I  his  fortunes,  and  he  speaks  of  him  as  "  willing 
to  shift  into  the  character  of  a  retailer  and  tav- 
ern keeper."  The  Gazette  was,  in  Brown's 
belief,  the  personal  organ  of  Owen,  whom  he 
calls  "  the  lord  proprietor  of  the  press  " ;  but 
this  may  be  merely  the  wail  of  the  rejected,  for 
Brown  admits  that  his  own  contributions  were 
repeatedly  scorned,  so  that  to  gain  publicity  he 
was  obliged  to  post  them  on  the  gateway  of  the 
educational  society,  taking  them  in  at  night  for 


120  THE   HOOSIERS 

safety.  He  says  that  in  spite  of  the  balls  and 
promenade  concerts  the  people  remained  stran- 
gers, and  he  deplores  the  amount  of  time  and 
candles  wasted  in  these  frivolities.  As  to  the 
educational  features  of  the  place,  Brown  ex- 
presses his  opinion  that  there  was  no  other 
place  in  the  United  States  where  a  like  number 
of  children  in  the  same  compass  "were  of  so 
harsh,  insolent,  rash,  boisterous,  and  barbarous 
dispositions."  Brown  deals  drastically  with  the 
auditing  department  of  the  community.  He 
intimates  that  when  a  debit  balance  appeared 
against  a  member  on  the  books,  credit  was 
immediately  stopped  at  the  store.  He  gives 
the  instance  of  a  gardener  named  Gilbert,  who 
was  suddenly  served  with  his  discharge  in  De- 
cember, when  his  family  were  ill,  because  he 
was  performing  no  labor  and  had  fallen  in 
arrears.  Gilbert  asked  for  an  investigation, 
which  was  held,  and  the  court  found  in  his 
favor. 

Twenty  heads  of  families  were  notified  to 
quit  February  i,  1827;  March  21  there  was  an 
exodus  of  about  eighty  persons,  who  took  a 
steamboat  for  the  upper  Ohio,  and  March  28 


AN   EXPERIMENT  IN  SOCIALISM  121 

the  Gazette  contained  an  editorial  admitting 
the  failure  of  New  Harmony,  the  central  com- 
munity, but  maintaining  that  the  auxiliary  socie- 
ties were  successful.  The  reason  assigned  for 
the  collapse  was  that  "the  members  were  too 
various  in  their  feelings,  and  too  dissimilar  in 
their  habits,  to  govern  themselves  harmoniously 
as  one  community."  Owen  delivered  a  farewell 
address  to  the  citizens,  May  26.  He  spoke  with 
patient  forbearance  of  the  element  that  had 
joined  the  community  merely  to  become  a  burden 
upon  him  ;  but  he  was  severe  upon  his  associates 
who  had  undertaken  the  educational  work  of  the 
society  but  had  failed  to  organize  such  schools 
as  he  had  expected.  He  had  wished  the  chil- 
dren to  be  "  educated  in  similar  habits,  disposi- 
tions, and  feelings,  and  be  brought  up  truly  as 
members  of  one  large  family,  without  a  single 
discordant  feeling."  If  the  schools  had  not 
proved  ineffectual,  he  believed  that  even  with 
the  heterogeneous  mass  that  had  collected  on 
his  lands  a  successful  society  could  have  been 
founded.  However,  turning  from  these  un- 
I  pleasant  reflections,  with  characteristic  optimism, 
he  declared  that  "the  social  system  is  now 


122  THE   HOOSIERS 

firmly  established ;  the  natural  and  easy  means 
of  forming  communities  have  been  developed 
by  your  past  experience.  .  .  .  New  Harmony 
is  now,  therefore,  literally  surrounded  by  inde- 
pendent communities,  and  applications  are  made 
almost  daily  by  persons  who  come  from  far  and 
near  to  be  permitted  to  establish  themselves  in 
a  similar  manner."  The  eight  communities 
referred  to  were  probably  little  more  than 
tentative  colonies,  planted  on  Owen's  lands 
under  lease.  There  is  no  evidence  that  a 
community  organization  was  maintained  for 
any  length  of  time  at  Macluria  or  Feiba  Peveli 
after  the  collapse  at  New  Harmony  village,  and  of 
the  remainder  of  the  eight  to  which  Owen  re- 
ferred there  is  no  further  record.  They  van- 
ished with  the  others,  and  presently  passed  to 
individual  owners  or  lessees.  Brown  summa- 
rizes the  disappearance  of  communism  and  the 
return  of  the  old  order  in  these  words  :  "  The 
greater  part  of  the  town  was  now  resolved  into 
individual  lots ;  a  grocery  was  established  op- 
posite the  tavern  ;  painted  sign  boards  began  to 
be  stuck  up  on  the  buildings,  pointing  out  places 
of  manufacture  and  trade ;  a  sort  of  wax  figure 


AN   EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM  123 

and  puppet  show  was  opened  at  one  of  the 
boarding-houses,  charging  twenty-five  cents  for 
adults  and  twelve  and  a  half  for  children;  and 
everything  went  on  in  the  old  style." 

Owen's  teachings  and  example  led  to  other 
experiments  in  America  besides  those  he  per- 
sonally conducted  on  the  Wabash  ;  but  American 
socialism  of  the  Owen  period  was  most  fully 
expressed  at  New  Harmony.  Owen's  ardor  for 
social  reforms  continued  unabated.  He  visited 

\  Mexico  shortly  after  the  New  Harmony  failure, 
to  secure  a  concession  of  land  for  further  ex- 
periments. The  negotiations  failed,  and  he  is 

\\next  heard  of  at  Cincinnati,  in  April,  1829,  de- 
bating religious  questions  with  Alexander  Camp- 
bell. He  did  not  appear  in  America  again 
until  the  fall  of  1844,  when  he  spent  a  short 
time  on  his  New  Harmony  lands,  lectured  in 
many  cities,  established  friendly  relations  with 
Brisbane  and  other  Fourierites,  and,  in  the 
spring  of  1845,  visited  Brook  Farm.  He  was 
last  at  New  Harmony  in  the  fall  of  1846. 

It  could  hardly  be  expected  that  a  village 
which  had  been  the  home  of  two  orders  of  exiles 
could  descend  at  once  to  the  commonplace,  and 


124  THE   HOOSIERS 

the  subsequent  history  of  New  Harmony  is  not 
disappointing.  Through  many  years  scientists 
of  distinction  and  radicals  of  all  degrees  visited 
the  place ;  Maclure  made  it  his  headquarters  ; 
Say  lived  and  died  there  ;  the  sons  of  Robert 
Owen  became  residents  and  gained  honorable 
distinction  in  science  and  politics  ;  books  that 
still  have  value  were  written  and  published  in 
the  village.  Robert  Dale  Owen  (1801-1877) 
turned  from  communism  to  politics  and  litera- 
ture, and  few  citizens  of  Indiana  have  lived 
lives  more  useful  or  memorable.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Hofwyl,  under  Fellenberg,  and  after  a 
few  years  of  commercial  experience  at  New 
Lanark,  he  joined  the  New  Harmony  commu- 
nity. He  shared,  in  large  measure,  his  father's 
interests  in  social  and  economic  matters,  and 
after  the  fall  of  New  Harmony  he  and  Frances 
Wright  conducted  a  radical  paper  called  the 
Free  Enquirer  at  New  York.  In  1833  he  re- 
turned to  New  Harmony  and  was  soon  launched 
upon  a  brilliant  career.  He  was  elected  a 
representative  to  the  Indiana  General  Assem- 
bly and  to  the  National  Congress,  and  he  was 
an  influential  and  active  member  of  the  con- 


AN   EXPERIMENT  IN   SOCIALISM  125 

vention  that  revised  the  Indiana  constitution. 
The  Indiana  laws  granting  independent  prop- 
erty rights  to  women  were  largely  due  to  his 
efforts,  and  he  introduced  in  Congress,  in 
December,  1845,  the  bill  under  which  the 
Smithsonian  Institute  was  organized.  He  was 
appointed  charge  d'affaires  at  Naples  in  1853, 
and  when  the  grade  of  the  post  was  raised  he 
was  continued  as  minister  until  1858.  In  1863, 
he  was  chairman  of  a  commission  appointed  by 
the  Secretary  of  War  to  examine  the  condition  of 
the  freedmen.  He  had  written  to  the  President, 
urging  emancipation  before  this  step  had  been 
determined  upon,  and  Secretary  Chase  said 
that  Owen's  letter  to  Lincoln  had  greatly  in- 
fluenced the  President  to  make  his  proclamation. 
Mr.  Owen  wrote  often  and  well,  and  with  a 
facility  and  force  that  gave  him  wide  reputa- 
tion for  learning  and  literary  accomplishment. 
His  books  include  "  Pocahontas :  A  Dream  " 
(1837);  "Hints  on  Architecture"  (1849);  "Foot- 
prints on  the  Boundary  of  Another  World" 
(1859);  "Beyond  the  Breakers:  A  Novel" 
(1870);  "Debatable  Land  Between  this  World 
and  the  Next"  (1872);  and  "Threading  my 


126  THE   HOOSIERS 

Way"  (1874).  He  became  deeply  interested 
in  spiritualism,  and  two  of  his  books,  as  the 
titles  indicate,  are  devoted  to  this  subject.  He 
travelled  much  and  knew  many  of  the  men 
and  women  eminent  in  the  early  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  including  La  Fayette  and 
Mrs.  Shelley.  His  daughter  Rosamund  married 
Laurence  Oliphant. 

David  Dale,  another  son  of  Robert  (1807- 
1860),  was  educated  at  Hofwyl  and  Glasgow, 
and  reached  New  Harmony  in  the  year  of  the 
community's  failure.  He  was  employed  by  the 
Indiana  legislature  to  make  a  geological  sur- 
vey of  the  State,  and  in  1839  tne  general  gov- 
ernment engaged  him  to  examine  Western 
mineral  lands.  He  explored  Illinois,  Iowa,  and 
Wisconsin  under  this  appointment.  Ten  years 
later  he  made  similar  surveys  in  Minnesota. 
During  all  this  time  New  Harmony  was  his 
home  and  headquarters,  and  the  rendezvous  of 
his  associates,  and  his  collections  of  specimens 
were  assembled  there.  He  was  State  geologist 
of  Kentucky  from  1854  to  1857,  and  then  turned 
to  Arkansas,  of  which  he  made  thorough  geo- 
logical surveys.  In  1859  ne  was  appointed 


AN  EXPERIMENT  IN  SOCIALISM  12? 

vj  State  geologist  of  Indiana,  and  held  the  office 
until  his  death.  He  was  a  skilled  chemist  and 
a  doctor  of  medicine  as  well  as  a  trained  natural 
scientist  and  geologist.  He  knew  the  use  of 
pencil  and  brush,  and  illustrated  his  reports 
with  sketches  that  greatly  enhanced  their  value. 
Military  talent  expressed  itself  in  the  Owen 
family  in  Richard,  still  another  of  Robert's  sons 
(1810-1890),  who  was  also  a  graduate  of  Hof- 
wyl.  He  came  to  America  and  engaged  in  busi- 
ness until  the  Mexican  War,  in  which  he  served 
as  captain,  and  later  assisted  his  brother,  David 
Dale,  in  his  surveys  of  the  Northwest.  He 
taught  the  natural  sciences  in  the  Military  Insti- 
tute of  Kentucky,  and  when  it  was  merged  in 
the  University  of  Nashville  he  continued  in  the 
same  capacity  with  the  new  institution.  Mean- 
while he  had,  with  the  energy  and  ambition 
characteristic  of  his  family,  earned  the  degree 
of  Doctor  of  Medicine,  though  he  never  prac- 
tised. He  served  in  the  Civil  War  as  colonel 
of  the  Sixtieth  Indiana  Regiment,  principally  in 
the  Southwest,  and  was  once  taken  prisoner. 
After  the  war  he  taught  in  the  University  of 
Indiana  for  fifteen  years,  retiring  finally  to  New 


128  THE  HOOSIERS 

Harmony,  where,  in  the  old  Rapp  mansion,  he 
continued  his  studies,  writing  constantly  for  the 
scientific  periodicals.  He  married  a  daughter 
of  Neef .  William  Owen,  who  had  reached  New 
Harmony  in  time  to  aid  his  brother,  Robert 
Dale,  in  editing  the  Gazette,  continued  to  live  in 
Indiana,  and  became  a  successful  financier. 
Descendants  of  Robert  Owen  still  live  at  New 
Harmony,  and  the  name  is  one  to  conjure  with 
in  all  the  lower  Wabash  Valley. 

The  excellent  work  of  the  New  Harmony 
press  proves  that  good  craftsmanship  was 
encouraged  and  appreciated  in  the  early  days. 
The  Gazette,  and  its  successor,  the  Dissemina- 
tor, are  models  of  accurate  and  tasteful  typog- 
raphy, and  the  books  published  from  this 
isolated  village  are  even  more  creditable.  Say's 
"  American  Conchology "  was  wholly  printed 
at  New  Harmony,  the  title  page  bearing  date 
1830.  Its  copious  illustrations  are  the  work 
of  New  Harmony  lithographers,  and  the  tint- 
ing of  the  engravings,  which  was  done  by 
Mrs.  Say,  reproduces  accurately  the  delicate 
shadings  of  the  shells.  Her  colors  are  still 
fresh  and  true  in  copies  of  this  work.  Parts 


AN   EXPERIMENT   IN   SOCIALISM  1 29 

of  Say's  "American  Entomology,"  which  he 
had  begun  at  Philadelphia,  were  finished  at 
New  Harmony.  Maclure  was  an  industrious 
writer,  and  the  imprint  of  the  New  Harmony 
press  is  found  in  two  substantial  volumes,  one 
dated  1831,  the  other  1837,  in  which  he  col- 
lected short  essays  on  innumerable  topics. 
Josiah  Warren  was  for  a  time  at  least  the 
New  Harmony  publisher,  and  Michaux's 
"  North  American  Sylva "  was  reprinted  by 
him  from  plates  brought  from  Paris  by  Mac- 
lure,  though  the  unbound  sheets  of  the  New 
Harmony  edition  were  consumed  by  fire. 

Warren  was  a  reformer  as  well  as  a  publisher. 
He  was  connected  with  New  Harmony  for  a 
short  time  in  community  days,  but  left,  return- 
ing in  1842  to  establish  a  "time  store."  In  the 
"time  store"  he  sold  merchandise  to  none  who 
could  not  return  the  actual  cash  cost,  plus  a 
profit  which  must  be  paid  in  a  "  labor  note." 
This  form  of  currency  represented  a  specified 
number  of  hours  of  labor,  pledged  by  mechanics 
or  others.  When  a  customer  entered  his  shop 
and  began  discussing  a  purchase,  Warren 
started  a  clock  which  marked  the  amount  of 


130  THE   HOOSIERS 

time  consumed  in  the  sale :  this  was  the  basis 
for  computing  the  merchant's  profit.  Warren 
could  often  be  seen  in  the  streets  of  New  Har- 
mony with  large  amounts  of  labor  currency. 
This  medium  of  exchange  required  careful 
handling,  as  some  would  appraise  their  labor 
too  high,  and  now  and  then  depreciation  fol- 
lowed an  over-issue  by  some  careless  or  un- 
scrupulous individual.  Warren  conducted  this 
enterprise  for  about  two  years,  departing  to 
carry  the  gospel  of  "  equitable  commerce,"  as 
he  called  it,  elsewhere. 

In  1838  the  Workingmen's  Institute  and 
Library  was  organized  at  Maclure's  sugges- 
tion and  with  money  that  he  contributed. 
Later,  Dr.  Edward  Murphy  generously  gave 
to  this  association  a  handsome  building,  which 
contains  the  library,  an  art  gallery,  —  largely 
Dr.  Murphy's  gift,  —  a  hall,  and  museum.  The 
building  stands  in  a  pretty  park  and  is  ideally 
adapted  to  its  purposes.  The  library  contains 
12,000  volumes,  well  selected  and  particularly 
rich  in  scientific  works.  It  includes  every  avail- 
able book  relating  to  American  socialism,  and 
many  of  the  original  New  Harmony  records 


AN   EXPERIMENT   IN    SOCIALISM  131 

are  preserved  there.  Dr.  Murphy  has  provided 
an  endowment  for  it  and  for  an  annual  course 
of  lectures.  The  lecture  course  is  greatly  prized 
by  the  citizens,  who  have  heard  under  its  auspi- 
ces many  of  the  learned  men  of  the  day.  There 
was  no  church  in  the  village  for  many  years; 
indeed,  with  the  passing  of  Rapp  little  attention 
was  paid  to  religious  matters  at  New  Harmony 
until  late  in  the  century,  and  though  there  are 
Episcopal  and  Methodist  organizations  in  the 
village  now,  the  life  of  the  people  does  not  cen- 
tre about  the  churches  as  in  most  communities 
of  the  same  size.  An  old  citizen  describes  the 
attitude  of  the  inhabitants  toward  religion  as 
one  of  tolerance  merely.  Several  branches  of 
the  Owen  family  are  Episcopalians.  Dancing 
as  a  feature  of  social  life  has  survived  from 
community  times,  and  a  first-of-May  ball,  fol- 
lowed by  a  dance  for  children,  has  long  been 
fixed  in  the  local  calendar. 

Thus  Robert  Owen's  brief  experiment,  fail- 
ing of  his  purpose,  led  to  the  founding  of  an 
American  family  whose  members  have  shown 
unusual  talents,  creditable  alike  to  their  distin- 
guished progenitor  and  to  the  State  which 


132  THE   HOOSIERS 

became,  by  chance,  their  home.  He  failed  to 
establish  an  asylum  for  the  oppressed,  as  he 
had  intended,  but  he  was  responsible  for  the 
impulse  that  made  of  his  village  a  centre  of 
scientific  inquiry  and  the  home  of  men  of 
renown.  It  is  impossible  to  separate  the  New 
Harmony  of  to-day  from  the  village  of  the  past. 
At  every  turn,  the  buildings  of  the  Rappites 
and  the  traces  of  Owen's  disciples  suggest  the 
old  times ;  and  descendants  of  the  Owens, 
Fretageots,  Beales,  Fauntleroys,  Dransfields, 
Wheatcrofts,  and  many  others  dating  back  to 
community  times,  still  live  there.  New  Har- 
mony is  a  pleasant  place  in  May  and  June, 
when  the  great  lines  of  maples  in  the  broad 
streets  are  at  their  best,  and  all  the  quiet  valley 
is  fresh  and  green.  It  invites  by  its  air  of 
antiquity  and  peace ;  the  sheltered  life  is  still 
possible  there.  In  the  present,  it  is  the  ideal 
Western  village ;  in  its  memories  it  marks  the 
first  high  tide  of  cultivation  at  the  West. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED 

THE  rural  type  in  Indiana  has  found  notable 
interpretation  at  the  hands  of  two  writers  who, 
working  independently  of  each  other  and  at 
different  periods,  have  made  records  of  great 
social  and  literary  value  and  interest.-  As 
already  indicated,  country  life  at  the  West  and 
Southwest  has  not  varied  widely  in  different 
communities.  The  same  social  conditions  and 
peculiarities  of  speech  have  been  observable  in 
many  regions  deriving  population  from  com- 
mon sources ;  but  the  type  found  in  the  Ohio 
Valley  was  best  denned  in  Indiana,  and  it  has 
gained  its  greatest  fame  through  the  interpre- 
tations of  Edward  Eggleston  and  James  Whit- 
comb  Riley.  Their  outlook  on  life  has  been 
wholly  different,  and  their  literary  methods 
have  been  antipodal;  but  they  have  both  been 
keen  observers  of  the  rural  Indianians,  though 
of  different  generations.  They  meet  in  a  strong 
133 


134  THE   HOOSIERS 

affection  for  their  native  soil,  and  in  an  appre- 
ciation of  the  essential  domesticity  and  moral 
enlightenment  of  the  people  they  depict. 

I.    Edward  Eggleston 

Switzerland  County  lies  in  the  far  southeast- 
ern corner  of  the  State,  and  Vevay,  its  principal 
town  and  capital,  is  on  the  Ohio  River.  The 
name  of  the  county  is  explained  by  the  fact  of  its 
settlement  by  Swiss  immigrants,  who  were  drawn 
thither  by  the  supposed  adaptability  of  the  soil 
to  the  growth  of  the  grape.  Vevay  lies  about 
midway  between  Louisville  and  Cincinnati,  and 
the  steamboats  plying  between  these  two  cities 
are  its  only  medium  of  communication  with  the 
world,  as  no  railway  touches  it.  It  was  to  this 
pretty  village  that  Joseph  Cary  Eggleston,  the 
father  of  Edward  and  George  Cary  Eggleston, 
came  in  1832.  The  impression  has  been 
abroad  that  the  author  of  "The  Hoosier 
Schoolmaster "  was  himself  reared  amid  the 
squalor  and  ignorance  which  he  described  so 
vividly,  but  this  is  without  foundation  of  fact. 
The  Egglestons  were  of  good  Virginia  stock, 
and  the  members  of  the  Indiana  branch  of  the 


THE  HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  135 

family  were  cultivated  people.  Joseph  Gary 
was  graduated  from  William  and  Mary  College 
in  his  seventeenth  year  with  high  honors.  He 
had  studied  law  before  he  left  Virginia,  and 
the  fourteen  years  of  his  life  that  remained  to 
him  after  his  removal  to  Indiana  were  spent  in 
the  successful  practice  of  his  profession.  He 
was,  moreover,  popular  in  the  community,  for 
he  sat  in  both  branches  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly, and  was  nominated  for  representative  in 
Congress,  but  failed  of  election.  He  married, 
soon  after  reaching  Indiana,  the  daughter  of 
George  Craig,  of  Craig  township,  in  Switzer- 
land County.  The  Craigs  were  of  a  dis- 
tinguished Kentucky  family,  and,  like  the 
Egglestons,  looked  back  to  a  Virginia  ancestry. 
Edward  Eggleston  was  born  at  Vevay  in  1837, 
and  has  never  failed  to  speak  with  great  cordial- 
ity and  affection  of  the  pretty  river  town  whose 
chief  distinction  lies  in  his  own  attainments. 
He  has  even  taken  occasion  in  recent  years  l  to 
rebuke  "a  certain  condescension  in  New  Eng- 
landers,"  which  had  prompted  the  Atlantic 
Monthly  to  comment  on  the  hardship  it  must 

1  The  Forum,  November,  1890. 


136  THE   HOOSIERS 

have  been  "to  a  highly  organized  man"  to  be 
born  in  southern  Indiana  in  the  crude  early 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Dr.  Eggleston 
declares  that  he  has  retained  enough  of  local 
prejudice  to  feel  that  he  would  have  lost  more 
than  he  could  have  gained  had  Plymouth  Rock 
or  Beacon  Hill  been  his  birthplace  rather  than 
Vevay.  He  was  sensitive  to  the  loveliness  of 
the  Indiana  spring  and  summer,  and  has  paid 
tribute  to  it  in  words  which  it  is  a  pleasure  to 
repeat : — 

"The  sound  of  the  anvil  in  the  smithy,  and  the  soft 
clatter  of  remote  cow-bells  on  the  '  commons,'  linger  in 
my  mind  as  memories  inseparable  from  my  boyhood  in 
Vevay.  A  certain  poetic  feeling  which  characterized  me 
from  childhood,  and  which,  perhaps,  finally  determined 
my  course  toward  literary  pursuits,  was  nourished  by  my 
delight  in  the  noble  scenery  about  Vevay,  Madison,  and 
New  Albany,  in  which  places  I  lived  at  various  times. 
My  brother  George  and  myself  were  walkers,  partly 
because  our  father  had  been  one  before  us.  Nothing 
could  be  finer  than  our  all-day  excursions  to  the  woods 
in  search  of  hickory-nuts,  wild  grapes,  blackberries,  paw- 
paws, or  of  nothing  at  all  but  the  sheer  pleasure  of  wan- 
dering in  one  of  the  noblest  forests  that  it  ever  fell  to  a 
boy's  lot  to  have  for  a  playground.  Then,  too,  when  we 
had  some  business  five  or  twenty  miles  away,  we  scorned 
to  take  the  steamboat,  but  just  set  out  afoot  along  the 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  137 

river  bank,  getting  no  end  of  pleasure  out  of  the  walk,  and 
out  of  that  sense  of  power  which  unusual  fatigue,  cheer- 
fully borne,  always  gives."1 

Dr.  Eggleston's  early  life  was  full  of  vicissi- 
tude, but  he  has  himself  disclaimed  credit  for 
being  what  is  called  "a  self-made  man."  It  is 
true  that  he  had  his  own  way  to  make,  in  great 
measure,  but  he  began  with  all  the  benefits 
of  good  ancestry,  and  he  was,  in  his  own 
phrase,  "born  into  an  intellectual  atmosphere." 
Joseph  Gary  Eggleston,  who  died  when  Edward 
was  only  nine  years  old,  provided  in  his  will 
for  the  exchange  of  his  law  library  for  books 
of  general  interest,  that  his  children  might 
have  good  literature  about  them  in  their  forma- 
tive years  —  a  direction  that  was  followed 
faithfully  by  his  widow.  The  boy  Edward 
grew  up  with  the  ideal  of  a  scholarly  father 
before  him,  and  with  an  ambition  to  know 
books  and  to  read  other  languages  than  his 
own.  He  learned  also  the  mystery  of  type- 
setting, and  contributed  items  to  the  Vevay 
Reveille,  duly  "  set  up."  Dr.  Eggleston  records 
that  in  his  primary  schooling,  conducted  by 

1  The  Forum,  supra. 


138  THE  HOOSIERS 

his  mother,  he  proved  himself  a  dull  scholar, 
but  that  some  kind  of  climacteric  was  passed 
in  his  tenth  year,  and  that  thenceforward  he 
was  the  pride  of  his  teachers.  Manual  train- 
ing was  hardly  dreamed  of  in  those  days, 
but  Joseph  Eggleston  had  an  appreciation  of 
its  value  and  left  what  Edward  has  described 
as  "a  solemn  injunction  that  his  sons  should 
be  sent  to  the  country  every  summer  and 
taught  manual  labor  on  a  farm."  This  injunc- 
tion was  carefully  obeyed,  so  that  Edward 
Eggleston  had  an  actual  experience  of  farming 
and  a  contact  with  farm  folk  that  was  a  part 
of  his  preparation  for  the  writing  of  the  tales 
that  gave  him  his  first  fame.  Judge  Miles 
Eggleston,  Joseph's  brother,  was  more  dis- 
tinctly an  Indianian  than  any  other  member 
of  the  family  by  reason  of  his  long  residence 
in  the  State  and  his  public  services.  Guilford 
Eggleston,  Joseph  Eggleston's  cousin,  was  iden- 
tified with  the  family  life  at  Vevay.  He  was 
a  man  of  many  accomplishments,  and  left  a 
deep  impression  on  Edward  Eggleston,  who 
has  spoken  of  his  brilliant  talk  as  a  perpetual 
inspiration  :  "He  incessantly  stimulated  my  love 


THE  HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  139 

for  literature,  guided  my  choice  of  books, 
taught  me  to  make  a  commonplace  book  of  my 
reading,  and  by  his  conversation  and  example 
made  me  feel  that  to  lead  an  intellectual  life 
was  the  most  laudable  pursuit  of  a  human 
being."  The  direction  thus  given  to  the  boyish 
impulse,  and  the  atmosphere  of  his  home, 
were  of  great  importance  to  Edward,  for  of 
systematic  schooling  he  was  to  know  little.  He 
was  never  but  once  in  his  life  able  to  spend 
three  consecutive  months  in  school,  and  after 
he  reached  his  tenth  year  the  sum  of  his  school- 
ing was  only  eighteen  months. 

Joseph  Eggleston  had  foreseen  his  own  death 
and  provided  in  various  ways  for  the  education 
of  his  sons.  He  purchased  a  scholarship  in 
Asbury  (DePauw)  College,  but  continued  ill 
health  made  it  impossible  for  Edward  to  avail 
himself  of  its  benefits,  though  his  younger 
brother,  George  Gary,  became  a  student  there. 
Just  what  Edward  Eggleston  lost  by  his  ir- 
regular schooling,  which  was  almost  wholly  in- 
dependent of  instructors  in  the  usual  sense  of 
the  term,  is  hardly  a  profitable  subject  for  specu- 
lation. By  following  his  own  bent,  he  strength- 


140  THE   HOOSIERS 

ened  himself  along  lines  of  natural  preference, 
and  he  formed  that  habit  of  wise  selection  and 
rejection  which  in  itself  marks  the  educated 
man.  Although  schoolhouse  doors  were  closed 
against  him  on  account  of  his  precarious  health, 
he  was  nevertheless  permitted  to  court  death 
by  close  application  in  home  study.  He  ac- 
quired, by  the  time  he  reached  his  twenty-fifth 
year,  some  knowledge  of  six  or  seven  languages, 
and  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  classical  Eng- 
lish and  French  poetry.  He  knew  both  the 
English  and  French  dramatic  literature,  though, 
having  been  bred  in  the  strictest  teaching  of  the 
Methodists  of  that  day,  he  read  few  novels, 
and  he  gives  his  own  testimony  that  he  should 
have  esteemed  it  "a  damnable  sin  to  see  a 
play  on  the  stage." 

When  Edward  Eggleston  was  in  his  twelfth 
year,  his  mother  remarried,  taking  for  her  hus- 
band the  Rev.  William  Terrell,  a  Methodist 
minister.  This  change  brought  with  it  a  wider 
horizon  for  the  boy,  as  his  stepfather's  duties 
led  the  family  away  from  Vevay  to  Madison 
and  New  Albany,  also  on  the  Ohio,  but  larger 
towns  than  Vevay.  When  sixteen,  he  spent 


THE  HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  141 

more  than  a  year  with  his  father's  family  in 
Virginia.  The  sharp  transition  from  the  con- 
ditions in  the  newer  to  those  of  the  older  coun- 
try quickened  his  powers  of  observation.  The 
tribulations  of  the  Western  pioneers  had  been 
discussed  in  his  hearing  by  his  elders  during 
the  most  impressionable  years  of  his  childhood ; 
his  grandfather  Craig's  stone  house  was  a  re- 
minder of  times  not  remote  when  the  Indians 
were  a  daily  menace;  and  the  recitals  of  the 
wandering  apostles  of  Methodism  in  his  mother's 
house  had  given  him  further  contact  with  the 
adventure  and  romance  of  pioneer  life.  Vir- 
ginia opened  new  vistas,  and  the  novel  condi- 
tions of  life  that  he  found  there  extended  his 
knowledge  of  men  and  manners,  and  afforded 
an  opportunity  for  criticisn^  and  comparison 
that  was  of  definite  value.  He  found  himself 
cousin  to  a  considerable  part  of  the  population, 
and  this  wide  relationship  gave  him  an  acquain- 
tance with  the  charming  social  life  of  old  Vir- 
ginia; but  he  counted  himself  an  abolitionist, 
he  says,  from  the  time  of  this  visit. 

The    abundant    vitality   of    Dr.    Eggleston's 
later   years   has   been    so   strikingly  character- 


142  THE  HOOSIERS 

istic  that  it  is,  difficult  to  believe  that  ill  health 
followed  him  from  semi-invalid  boyhood  into 
manhood;  but  the  year  after  his  return  from 
Virginia  he  was  sent  to  Minnesota  in  the  hope 
that  the  change  might  benefit  him,  and  the 
kind  fates  thus  threw  him  into  still  other  and 
different  experiences.  He  was  in  the  new 
Northwest  when  the  free-soil  excitement  in 
Kansas  thrilled  the  country,  and  he  set  out 
afoot,  with  a  dirk  knife  as  his  only  weapon, 
for  the  scene  of  conflict.  He  has  himself 
described  the  failure  and  result  of  this  ex- 
cursion :  — 

"  After  weeks  of  weary  walking  and  nights  spent  in  the 
discomforts  of  frontier  cabins,  I  grew  sick  at  heart  and 
longed  for  the  companionship  and  refinements  of  home. 
I  was  rather  glad  to  flearn  that  men  from  the  free  States 
were  entirely  shut  out  of  the  besieged  territory  on  the 
Iowa  side.  My  moccasins  were  worn  out,  my  feet  were 
sore,  my  little  stock  of  money  was  failing,  and  I  was  tired 
of  husbanding  it  by  eating  crackers  and  cheese.  I  turned 
eastward  at  a  point  west  of  Cedar  Falls,  crossed  the  Mis- 
sissippi at  Muscatine,  and  after  walking  in  all  three  or  four 
hundred  miles,  I  at  length  boarded  a  railway  train  at  a 
station  near  Galesburg,  and  reached  my  nearest  relatives 
after  an  enforced  fast  of  twenty-four  hours,  without  a  cent 
in  my  pocket,  and  looking,  in  my  soiled  and  travel-worn 


THE   HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  143 

garments,  like  a  young  border  ruffian.     I  had  left  home  a 
pale  invalid  ;  I  returned  sun-browned  and  well." 

But  this  gain  in  bodily  strength  was  not  to 
profit  him  long.  He  had  been  bred  in  the 
Methodist  faith  ;  his  stepfather  was  a  minister 
of  wide  reputation  in  this  denomination,  and 
the  youth,  with  his  studious  disposition  and 
gift  for  speech,  turned  naturally  to  the  min- 
istry. He  has  said  of  himself  that  an  inward 
conflict  between  his  predisposition  to  literary 
work  and  the  tendency  to  religion  and  philan- 
thropy began  in  boyhood  and  has  continued 
throughout  his  life.  There  were  times  in  his 
youth  when  his  love  for  literature  seemed  an 
idolatry,  and  once  in  a  repentant  mood  he 
destroyed  his  youthful  manuscripts  and  re- 
solved to  abandon  literature.  He  was  now 
launched  upon  the  Methodist  circuit  rider's 
life  of  hardship  and  peril,  covering  a  four 
weeks'  itinerary  in  the  county  of  which  New 
Albany  is  the  capital,  and  performing  his  duties 
with  such  diligence  that  in  six  months  he 
was  again  a  wreck.  He  therefore  removed 
to  Minnesota,  and  continued  in  the  ministry, 
save  for  intervals  of  physical  prostration,  until, 


144  THE  HOOSIERS 

in  1866,  he  accepted  the  editorship  of  The 
Little  Corporal,  a  popular  juvenile  periodical 
published  at  Chicago,  and  from  that  beginning 
was  irresistibly  drawn  to  the  business  of  making 
books.  In  1874,  he  became  pastor  of  a  church 
in  Brooklyn,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  of 
the  Church  of  Christian  Endeavor,  and  which 
sought  to  make  sunshine  in  shady  places.  It 
was,  indeed,  the  "  Church  of  the  Best  Licks," 
of  the  "  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,"  slightly  con- 
ventionalized. Dr.  Eggleston  continued  in  the 
pastorate  for  five  years,  devoting  himself  to 
his  work  with  his  accustomed  zeal  and  enthusi- 
asm, which  resulted  in  another  collapse.  He 
then  retired  finally  from  the  ministry ;  but  the 
phrase,  "Christian  Endeavor,"  first  applied  by 
Dr.  Eggleston  to  his  Brooklyn  church,  is  widely 
known  as  the  name  of  a  society  of  young 
people. 

Unconscious  preparation  for  a  life-employ- 
ment has  rarely  been  more  clearly  exemplified 
in  American  literature  than  in  the  case  of  Dr. 
Eggleston.  This  is  not  true  as  to  his  novels 
of  Western  life  merely,  but  as  to  the  later 
historical  writing  in  which  he  has  so  success- 


THE   HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  145 

fully  detected  and  appraised  various  aspects  of 
our  social  growth.  His  early  experiences  at  the 
West  were  indelibly  written  in  his  memory,  and 
though  he  did  not  at  once  transcribe  them, 
his  work  as  editor  sharpened  his  instincts 
and  helped  him  to  an  appreciation  of  his  own 
material.  His  removal  to  New  York  in  1870 
was  another  fortunate  step  of  preparation,  for 
it  gave  him  a  perspective  which  he  could 
not  have  gained  had  he  remained  at  the  West. 
He  wrote  almost  immediately  "  The  Hoosier 
Schoolmaster,"  the  first  draft,  designed  for 
Hearth  and  Home,  being  in  the  form  of  a 
short  story,  which  he  extended  to  its  present 
form  at  the  suggestion  of  one  of  the  proprietors 
of  the  periodical.  The  reading  of  Taine's 
"  Art  in  the  Netherlands  "  was  the  quickening 
influence  that  led  to  the  writing  of  the  story. 
Dr.  Eggleston  learned  from  Taine  that  an 
artist  should  paint  what  he  sees,  and  he  there- 
fore undertook  to  portray  the  illiterate  people 
of  southern  Indiana.  The  story  was  published 
in  book  form  and  gained  wide  popularity,  which 
has  not  diminished  in  the  thirty  years  since  its 
appearance.  Dr.  Eggleston  has  been  criticised 


146  THE   HOOSIERS 

severely  in  Indiana  for  the  series  of  novels 
that  began  with  "The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster," 
but  this  criticism  has  come  largely  from  a  new 
generation  that  does  not  view  these  tales  in 
the  light  of  history,  and  is,  therefore,  hardly 
competent  to  pass  on  their  veracity.  By  the 
legal  tests  for  expert  witnesses  Dr.  Eggleston 
is  certainly  qualified  to  speak;  his  own  experi- 
ence and  the  social  evolution  of  the  people 
of  Indiana  contribute  to  the  creation  of  his 
competency ;  and  when  we  add  to  these  con- 
siderations his  instinctive  interest  in  the  begin- 
nings and  tendencies  of  American  life,  it  is 
not  possible  to  reject  him.  He  knew,  as  he 
says,  "the  antique  Hoosier."  The  Indiana  of 
1850  was  very  different  from  that  of  1870,  and 
Dr.  Eggleston  was  looking  backward  a  score 
of  years  when  he  created  Ralph  Hartsook, 
the  youthful  schoolmaster,  and  threw  about 
him  an  atmosphere  of  ignorance  and  vice. 
The  story  is  an  instructive  footnote  to  the 
history  of  education  in  Indiana.  "  Bud  Means  " 
is  of  the  second  generation  of  Hoosiers  —  the 
generation  which,  outside  of  the  first  social 
order,  had  little  or  no  benefit  of  education,  and 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  147 

which  sank  to  the  condition  of  illiteracy  that 
awakened  presently  the  efforts  of  the  faithful 
few  who  won  the  fight  for  free  schools.  Cour- 
age preceded  knowledge  as  a  requirement  of 
pedagogues  in  the  period  of  which  Dr.  Eggle- 
ston  wrote.  "'  Lickin'  and  larnin'  goes  together; 
no  lickin',  no  larnin','  declared  Pete  Jones." 
The  student  who  may  hereafter  scan  the  educa- 
tional history  of  Indiana  and  read  with  dis- 
may the  statistics  compiled  by  Mills,  will  welcome 
this  unadorned  tale,  that  illuminates  and  con- 
firms the  dry  facts  of  the  statistician.  Eggle- 
ston,  the  novelist,  kept  Eggleston,  the  preacher, 
well  in  hand,  and  there  is  no  tedious  moralizing 
in  the  book.  It  is  not  difficult  to  understand 
the  prompt  recognition  of  the  story  or  its  long- 
continued  attraction.  The  subject  was  novel, 
the  characters  were  new,  and  the  scene  was 
set  in  a  region  that  had  never  before  been 
seriously  explored  by  the  story-teller.  It  was, 
as  an  army  officer  put  it,  a  cavalry  dash  into 
literature.  The  incidents  were  linked  together 
with  skill,  and  their  air  of  entire  credibility 
has  not  been  lost  in  the  years  that  have  passed 
since  it  surprised  and  delighted  its  first  readers. 


148  THE   HOOSIERS 

Enjoyment  of  the  story  was  not  limited  to 
English  readers.  It  was  translated  into  French 
by  Madame  Blanc,  and  was  published  in  con- 
densed form  in  the  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes 
with  the  title  "  Le  Maitre  d'Ecole  de  Flat 
Creek."  German  and  Danish  translations  fol- 
lowed, so  that  "  Bud  Means "  has  enjoyed 
opportunities  for  foreign  travel  quite  unusual 
among  his  neighbors. 

"The  End  of  the  World"  (1872)  continued 
the  series  of  stories  which  Dr.  Eggleston  had 
begun  in  the  "  Schoolmaster."  Religious  phe- 
nomena were  the  most  marked  social  expres- 
sion in  the  time  and  place  of  which  he  wrote. 
It  was  religion  that  offered  to  the  isolated 
people  of  the  new  frontier  the  only  relief  that 
their  lives  knew  from  toil,  hardship,  and  dan- 
ger ;  and  what  appears  now,  at  the  distance 
of  fifty  years,  to  have  been  a  mania  was  with 
them  a  grave  and  vital  matter.  "The  End  of 
the  World  "  is  a  tale  of  the  Millerite  excite- 
ment, which  swept  the  country  in  1842-1843, 
and  Dr.  Eggleston  adapted  it  very  entertainingly 
to  the  purposes  of  fiction.  "The  Mystery  of 
Metropolisville  "  (1873)  led  away  from  Indiana 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  149 

into  Minnesota,  with  which  Dr.  Eggleston  had 
become  acquainted  as  a  minister.  Against  a 
background  of  the  land-booming  period,  he  illus- 
trates the  dangers  and  temptations  of  the 
pioneers ;  and  while  the  tale  is  less  satisfactory 
than  any  of  the  Indiana  series,  it  remains  after 
thirty  years  a  readable  novel.  It  was  hardly 
possible  for  Dr.  Eggleston  to  forget  wholly  the 
people  he  had  known  on  the  Ohio,  and  he 
introduces  in  "  The  Mystery  of  Metropolisville  " 
a  Hoosier  poet,  who  had  left  the  "Waybosh" 
because  his  literary  efforts  were  not  appreciated 
there.  He  carried  his  ambitions  into  Minne- 
sota, became  a  trapper  and  land  speculator, 
and  there,  to  quote  from  one  of  his  own 
stanzas,  — 

"  His  Hoosier  harp  hangs  on  the  wild  water-wilier." 

Dr.  Eggleston  had  been  established  at  New 
York  for  eight  years  when  he  wrote  "  Roxy  " 
(1878),  one  of  the  best  of  his  books,  and  one 
which  depicts  even  more  vividly  than  "  The 
Hoosier  Schoolmaster  "  his  early  environment. 
He  was  now  forty-one,  and  the  years  that  had 
added  to  the  sum  of  his  experience  had  devel- 


150  THE   HOOSIERS 

oped  also  his  natural  instinct  for  character. 
The  dramatic  quality,  too,  shows  strongly  in 
this  tale,  which  is,  in  its  moral  relation,  a  kind 
of  Western  "  Scarlet  Letter."  There  is  more 
or  less  of  Vevay  in  this  novel, — it  is  not  impor- 
tant to  inquire  too  curiously  whether  it  be 
more  or  less,  —  and  the  pretty  river  village, 
with  its  slight  foreign  color,  which  was  derived 
from  the  Swiss  residents,  the  mystery  and 
novelty  of  the  broad  river  highway,  the  sim- 
plicity of  the  life,  its  lazy  gossip  and  its 
religious  enthusiasms,  are  all  depicted  with 
fidelity.  The  Bonabys,  father  and  son,  the 
lurking  figure  of  Nancy,  Twonnet,  and  Roxy, 
possess  the  interest  that  attaches  to  fresh  types. 
The  introduction  of  the  volatile  Twonnet,  a 
member  of  the  Swiss  Colony,  in  contrast  with 
the  sober  Roxy,  the  unobtrusive  presentation 
of  the  religious  problems  that  held  the  attention 
of  the  community,  and  the  blending  of  the 
threads  of  young  Bonaby's  destiny,  are  accom- 
plished with  skill  and  power. 

In  "The  Circuit  Rider"  (1874)  Dr.  Eggle- 
ston  crossed  the  Indiana  boundary  into  southern 
Ohio,  but  for  all  critical  purposes  the  type  re- 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  151 

mained  the  same.  Political  frontiers  do  not 
deter  the  novelist,  who  enjoys  extra-territorial 
privileges.  "  The  Circuit  Rider "  is  not  so 
entertaining  a  story  as  "  Roxy."  The  char- 
acters do  not  take  hold  of  the  imagination 
here  as  in  the  later  book,  and  those  somewhat 
vague  qualities  that  combine  to  the  creation 
of  atmosphere  are  not  blended  so  effectively. 
But  as  a  picture  of  the  strenuous  religious 
life  of  the  Ohio  Valley  in  the  early  half  of 
the  century,  the  story  is  most  important.  In 
"  Roxy "  the  strife  between  Calvinism  and 
Wesleyism  is  more  strongly  contrasted ;  but 
"  The  Circuit  Rider  "  gives  a  vivid  impression 
of  a  period  that  was  made  remarkable  by  the 
heroism  and  sacrifice  of  the  Methodist  evan- 
gelists. After  "  Roxy  "  Dr.  Eggleston  did  not 
return  to  the  field  of  his  early  successes  until 
he  wrote  "  The  Graysons  "  (1887).  Like  "  The 
Circuit  Rider  "  this  story  is  not,  geographically 
speaking,  of  Indiana,  but  it  is  nevertheless  of 
that  broader  Hoosierdom  which  comprehended 
a  small  part  of  southern  Ohio  and  consider- 
ably more  of  Illinois.  This  is  one  of  the  best 
of  all  the  Hoosier  cycle,  and,  indeed,  one  of 


152  THE   HOOSIERS 

the  best  of  American  novels.  There  is  not  an 
inartistic  line  in  the  book,  and  the  manner  in 
which  Lincoln  is  introduced  as  a  character, — 
appearing  as  the  attorney  for  a  boy  charged 
with  murder,  and  winning  his  freedom  by  a 
characteristic  resort  to  homely  philosophy,  —  is 
achieved  so  simply  that  the  reader  is  left  won- 
dering whether  it  could  really  have'  been  the 
great  Lincoln  who  participated  in  one  .scene, 
performed  his  part,  and  thereupon  disappeared 
from  the  stage.  A  clumsy  artist  would  have 
dwelt  upon  Lincoln,  hinting  at  his  future  great- 
ness and  reluctantly  dismissing  him  ;  Dr.  Eggle- 
ston  introduces  the  incident  (which  is  based  on 
fact)  with  an  inadvertence  that  enhances  its 
interest  and  increases  its  suggestiveness.  The 
dialect  in  this  tale  is  much  more  critical  than 
that  in  any  other  novel  of  Dr.  Eggleston's 
Western  series.  In  his  earlier  stories,  writ- 
ten before  the  scientific  study  of  American 
folk-speech  had  been  undertaken,  the  dialect 
is  more  general.  Dr.  Eggleston's  other  works 
of  fiction  are :  "  Mr.  Blake's  Walking  Stick  " 
(1869);  "Book  of  Queer  Stories"  (1870); 
"  The  Schoolmaster's  Stories  for  Boys  and 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  153 

Girls"  (1874);  "Queer  Stories  for  Boys  and 
Girls"  (1884);  "The  Faith  Doctor"  (1891); 
"Duffels"  (1893).  "The  Faith  Doctor"  is  a 
novel  of  New  York,  in  which  the  prevailing 
interest  in  what  Dr.  Eggleston  called  "aerial 
therapeutics"  supplies  the  motive.  "Duffels" 
is  a  collection  of  short  stories  written  at  inter- 
vals throughout  his  literary  career,  with  scenes 
laid  in  many  parts  of  the  country,  and  illustrat- 
ing happily  the  versatility  and  the  story-telling 
gift  of  the  author. 

Dr.  Eggleston  began  in  1880  researches  for  a 
history  of  life  in  the  United  States.  He  pur 
sued  his  studies  abroad,  as  well  as  in  American 
libraries,  and  assembled  at  his  summer  home 
on  Lake  George  a  large  collection  of  Ameri- 
cana. The  only  published  result  of  these  stud- 
ies thus  far  is  "  The  Beginners  of  a  Nation " 
(1896),  the  most  serious,  searching,  and  exhaust- 
ive essay  in  Kultur-Geschichte  yet  presented 
by  an  American.  The  mere  politics  of  our 
history  and  its  military  incidents  had  long 
received  the  attention  of  students,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  social  and  domestic.  A  work  such 
as  Dr.  Eggleston  has  undertaken  is  vastly 


'- 


154  THE  HOOSIERS 

more  difficult  and  therefore  more  important, 
for  it  requires  original  research  in  the  strictest 
sense.  His  other  historical  works  so  far  com- 
pleted are:  "A  History  of  the  United  States 
and  its  People  for  the  Use  of  Schools"  (1888); 
"The  Household  History  of  the  United  States 
and  its  People"  (1888);  and  "A  First  Book  in 
American  History"  (1889). 

Dr.  Eggleston's  life  makes  in  itself  a  delight- 
ful story  of  aspiration  and  achievement.  Many 
Americans  have  experienced  hardship  and  dis- 
couragement, but  few  have  profited  so  richly 
as  this  novelist  and  historian  by  every  whim 
of  fortune.  Ill  health  has  menaced  him  all 
his  days,  but  physical  infirmity  has  never  con- 
quered his  ambition  or  diminished  his  mental 
vitality.  There  is  about  him  an  exuberance 
of  spirits  that  is  not  only  a  distinguishing  per- 
sonal trait,  but  a  quality  of  all  his  stories.  And 
if  ill  health  in  his  youth  and  young  manhood 
interrupted  the  orderly  course  of  education,  it 
also  brought  him  opportunities  for  acquiring  a 
broad  knowledge  of  American  provincial  life 
that  no  school  could  have  given  him.  When 
Dr.  Eggleston  began  to  write  there  was,  out- 


THE   HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  155 

side  of  New  England,  little  local  literature, 
and  the  value  of  dialect  in  interpretative 
fiction  was  only  beginning  to  be  under- 
stood. Cable,  Page,  Harris,  Murfree,  "Octave 
Thanet,"  were  names  unknown  to  the  catalogues 
when  "The  Hoosier  Schoolmaster"  appeared. 
Mark  Twain  and  Bret  Harte  were  well 
embarked  upon  their  careers ;  but  the  one  was 
a  humorist  and  the  other  a  romanticist,  and 
neither  had  undertaken  to  reproduce  local 
speech  accurately.  Dr.  Eggleston  was  the 
pioneer  provincial  realist;  and  if,  as  he  says, 
the  great  American  novel  is  being  written  in 
sections,  he  certainly  contributed  early  chapters, 
and  indicated  the  lines  to  be  followed. 

His  marriage,  in  1891,  to  Frances  E.  Goode, 
a  granddaughter  of  his  father's  cousin,  Judge 
Miles  Gary  Eggleston,  renewed  ties  with  Indi- 
ana that  had  never  been  wholly  broken  during 
long  years  of  absence.  He  has  often  been  a 
visitor  to  Madison,  which  was  Mrs.  Eggle- 
ston's  home,  and  he  spent  the  winter  of  1899 
in  that  beautiful  and  tranquil  town. 


THE  HOOSIERS 


II.  James  Whitcomb  Riley 

Crabbe  and  Burns  are  Mr.  Riley  's  fore- 
fathers in  literature.  Crabbe  was  the  pioneer 
in  what  may  be  called  the  realism  of  poetry  ; 
it  was  he  who  rejected  the  romantic  pastoral- 
ism  that  had  so  long  peopled  the  British  fields 
with  nymphs  and  shepherds,  and  introduced 
the  crude  but  actual  country  folk  of  England. 
The  humor,  the  bold  democracy,  and  the  social 
sophistication  that  he  lacked  were  supplied  in 
his  own  day  by  Burns,  and  Burns  had,  too,  the 
singing  instinct  and  the  bolder  art  of  which 
there  are  no  traces  in  Crabbe.  Something  of 
Crabbe's  realism  and  Burns's  humor  and  phi- 
losophy are  agreeably  combined  in  Mr.  Riley. 
His  first  successes  were  achieved  in  the  por- 
trayal of  the  Indiana  country  and  village  folk 
in  dialect.  He  has  rarely  seen  fit  to  vary  his 
subject,  and  he  has  been  faithful  to  the  environ- 
ment from  which  he  derived  his  inspiration. 
James  Whitcomb  Riley  is  an  interesting  in- 
stance —  perhaps,  after  Whittier,  the  most 
striking  in  our  literature  —  of  a  natural  poet, 
taking  his  texts  from  the  familiar  scenes  and 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  157 

incidents  of  his  own  daily  walks,  and  owing 
little  or  nothing  to  the  schools.  He  was  born 
at  Greenfield,  the  seat  of  Hancock  County,  in 
1849.  His  father,  Reuben  A.  Riley,  was  a 
native  of  Pennsylvania,  of  Dutch  antecedents, 
though  there  is  a  tradition  of  Irish  ancestry  in 
the  family.  He  was  a  lawyer,  who  enjoyed  a 
wide  reputation  as  an  advocate,  and  was  long 
reckoned  among  the  most  effective  political 
speakers  in  Indiana.  He  was  a  discriminating 
reader  and  an  occasional  writer  of  both  prose 
and  verse.  The  poet's  mother  was  a  Marine, 
of  a  family  in  which  an  aptness  for  rhyming 
was  characteristic.  The  Greenfield  schools 
have  always  been  excellent,  and  young  Riley 
was  fortunate  in  having  for  his  teacher  Lee  O. 
Harris,  himself  a  poet,  who  tried  to  adapt  the 
curriculum  of  the  Hancock  County  schools  to 
the  needs  of  an  unusual  pupil  in  whom  imag- 
ination predominated  to  the  exclusion  of  mathe- 
matics. 

Learning  is,  as  Higginson  has  aptly  con- 
densed it,  not  accumulation,  but  assimilation ; 
and  "  the  Hoosier  poet "  was  born  one  of  those 
fortunate  men  to  whom  schools  are  a  mere  inci- 


158  THE   HOOSIERS 

dent  of  education,  but  who  walk  through  the 
world  with  their  eyes  open,  adding  daily  to 
their  stock  of  knowledge.  Bagehot  enlarges 
on  this  trait  as  he  discovers  it  in  Shakespeare, 
"throughout  all  whose  writings,"  he  says, 
"  you  see  an  amazing  sympathy  with  com- 
mon people."  The  common  people  caught 
and  held  the  attention  of  Mr.  Riley,  and  as 
the  annalist  of  their  simple  lives  he  established 
himself  firmly  in  public  affection.  The  half  a 
dozen  colleges  within  a  radius  of  fifty  miles  of 
his  home  did  not  attract  him ;  he  was  bred  to 
no  business,  but  followed  in  a  tentative  way 
occupations  that  brought  him  into  contact  with 
people.  He  began  to  write  because  he  felt  the 
impulse,  and  not  because  he  breathed  a  liter- 
ary atmosphere  or  looked  forward  to  a  literary 
career.  His  imagination  needed  some  outlet, 
and  he  made  verses  just  as  he  drew  pictures  or 
acquired  a  knack  at  playing  the  guitar,  taking 
one  talent  about  as  seriously  as  the  other.  A 
Western  county  seat,  with  its  daily  advent  of 
pilgrims  from  the  farms,  affords  an  entertain- 
ing panorama  for  a  bright  boy,  and  Mr.  Riley 
began  in  his  youth  that  careful  observation  of 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  159 

the  Indiana  country  folk,  their  ways  and  their 
speech,  that  was  later  to  afford  him  a  seemingly 
inexhaustible  supply  of  material. 

He  had  in  his  younger  days  something  of 
Artemus  Ward's  fondness  for  a  hoax,  and 
he  wrote  "  Leonaine,"  in  imitation  of  Poe's 
manner,  with  so  marked  success  that  several 
critics  of  discernment  received  the  poem,  and 
the  story  of  its  discovery  in  an  old  school 
reader,  in  good  faith.  In  the  experimental  pe- 
riod of  his  career  he  read  widely  and  to  good 
purpose,  learning  the  mechanics  of  prosody 
from  the  best  models.  His  ear  was  naturally 
good,  and  he  was  distinctly  original  in  his  ideas 
of  form.  He  delighted  in  the  manipulation  of 
words  into  odd  and  surprising  combinations, 
and  though  the  results  were  not  always  digni- 
fied, they  were,  nevertheless,  curious  and  amus- 
ing, and  brought  him  a  degree  of  local  fame. 
Mr.  Riley's  contributions  were  wholly  to  news- 
papers through  many  years,  during  which  the 
more  deliberate  periodicals  would  have  none  of 
him.  He  printed  poems  in  the  Herald,  an  In- 
dianapolis weekly  paper,  in  which  the  poems  of 
Edith  M.  Thomas  and  others  who  have  since 


l6o  THE  HOOSIERS 

gained  a  literary  reputation  first  saw  the  light ; 
and  having  attracted  the  attention  of  E.  B.  Mar- 
tindale,  the  owner  of  the  Indianapolis  Journal, 
he  was  regularly  employed  on  that  paper,  be- 
tween 1877  and  1885,  printing  many  of  his 
best  pieces  there.  He  had  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  his  verses  widely  copied  at  that  period, 
when  the  newspaper  press  was  his  only  medium 
of  communication,  and  before  he  had  printed  a 
volume.  His  first  marked  recognition  followed 
the  publication  in  the  Journal  of  a  series  of 
poems  signed  "Benj.  F.  Johnson,  of  Boone," 
which  not  only  awakened  wide  interest,  but 
gave  direction  to  a  talent  that  had  theretofore 
been  without  definite  aim.  He  encouraged  the 
idea  that  the  poems  were  really  the  work  of  a 
countryman,  and  prefaced  them  with  letters  in 
prose  to  add  to  their  air  of  authenticity,  much 
as  Lowell  introduced  the  "  Biglow  Papers." 
This  series  included  "  Thoughts  fer  the  Dis- 
curaged  Farmer,"  "When  the  Frost  is  on  the 
Punkin,"  and  "To  My  Old  Friend,  William 
Leachman,"  which  were  winningly  unaffected 
and  simple,  bearing  out  capitally  the  impres- 
sion of  a  bucolic  poet  celebrating  his  own  joys 


THE   HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  l6l 

and  sorrows.  The  charm  of  the  "Benj.  R 
Johnson  "  series  lay  in  their  perfect  suggestion 
of  a  whimsical,  lovable  character,  and  wherever 
Mr.  Riley  follows  the  method  employed  first 
in  those  pieces,  he  never  fails  of  his  effect. 

It  should  be  remembered,  in  passing  from 
Riley  masquerading  as  "Benj.  F.  Johnson" 
to  Riley  undisguised,  that  two  kinds  of  dialect 
are  represented.  The  Boone  County  poet's 
contributions  are  printed  as  the  old  farmer  is 
supposed  to  have  written  them,  not  as  reported 
by  a  critical  listener.  There  is  a  difference 
between  the  attempt  of  an  illiterate  man  to 
express  his  own  ideas  on  paper,  and  a  tran- 
script of  his  utterances  set  down  by  one  trained 
to  the  business  —  the  vernacular  as  observed 
and  recorded  by  a  conscious  artist.  In  every 
community  there  is  a  local  humorist,  a  sayer 
of  quaint  things,  whose  oddities  of  speech  gain 
wide  acceptance  and  circulation,  and  Mr.  Riley 
is  his  discoverer  in  Indiana.  Lowell,  with  his 
own  New  England  particularly  in  mind,  said 
that  "  almost  every  county  has  some  good  die- 
sinker  in  phrase,  whose  mintage  passes  into  the 
currency  of  the  whole  neighborhood " ;  and 


1 62  THE   HOOSIERS 

this  may  be  applied  generally  to  the  South 
and  West.  Mr.  Riley  writes  always  with  his 
eye  on  a  character;  and  those  who  question 
his  dialect  do  not  understand  that  there  is 
ever  present  in  his  mind  a  real  individual. 
The  feeling  and  the  incident  are  not  peculiar 
to  the  type;  they  usually  lie  within  the  range 
of  universal  experience ;  but  the  expression,  the 
manner,  the  figure  of  the  subject,  are  sug- 
gested in  the  poem,  not  by  speech  alone,  but 
by  the  lilt  of  the  line  and  the  form  of  the 
stanza.  Mr.  Riley  is  more  interested  in  odd 
characters,  possessing  marked  eccentricities, 
than  in  the  common,  normal  type  of  the  farm 
or  the  country  town,  and  the  dialect  that  he 
employs  often  departs  from  the  usual  vocabu- 
lary of  the  illiterate  in  the  field  he  studies,  and 
follows  lines  of  individual  idiosyncrasy.  The 
shrewdly  humorous  farmer  who  is  a  whimsical 
philosopher  and  rude  moralist  delights  him. 
This  character  appears  frequently  in  his  poems, 
often  mourning  for  the  old  times,  now  delight- 
ing in  "noon-time  an'  June-time,  down  around 
the  river " ;  and  again  expressing  contentment 
with  his  own  lot,  averring  that  "they's  nothin' 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  163 

much  patheticker  'n  just  a-bein'  rich."  To 
these  characters  he  gives  a  dialect  that  is 
fuller  than  the  usual  rural  speech  :  ministratin* 
(ministering),  resignated  (resigned),  artificialer 
(more  artificial),  competenter  (more  competent), 
tractabler  (more  tractable),  and  familiously 
(familiarly),  not  being  properly  in  the  Hoosier 
lingua  rustica,  but  easily  conceivable  as  pos- 
sible deviations.  Mr.  Riley  has  been  criticised 
for  imputing  to  his  characters  such  phrases 
as  "when  the  army  broke  out"  and  "durin' 
the  army,"  referring  to  the  Civil  War,  and 
many  careful  observers  declare  that  he  could 
never  have  heard  these  phrases ;  but  very 
likely  he  has  heard  them  from  the  eccentric 
countrymen  for  whom  he  has  so  strong  an 
affinity;  or  he  may  have  coined  them  out- 
right as  essential  to  the  interpretation  of  such 
characters.  In  the  main,  however,  he  may  be 
followed  safely  as  an  accurate  guide  in  the 
speech  of  the  Southeastern  element  of  the 
population,  and  his  questionable  usages  and  in- 
consistencies are  few  and  slight,  as  the  phrase 
"don't  you  know,"  which  does  not  always 
ring  true,  or  "  again  "  and  "  agin,"  used  inter- 


1 64  THE   HOOSIERS 

changeably  and  evidently  as  the  rhyme  may 
hint.  The  abrupt  beginning  of  a  sentence, 
frequently  noticed  in  Mr.  Riley's  dialect  verses, 
is  natural.  The  illiterate  often  experience  dif- 
ficulty in  opening  a  conversation,  expressing 
only  a  fragment,  to  which  an  interlocutor 
must  prefix  for  himself  the  unspoken  phrases. 
There  is  no  imposition  in  Mr.  Riley's  dialect, 
for  his  amplifications  of  it  are  always  for  the 
purpose  of  aiding  in  the  suggestion  of  a  char- 
acter as  he  conceives  it ;  he  does  not  pretend 
that  he  portrays  in  such  instances  a  type 
found  at  every  cross-roads.  "  Doc  Sifers  "  and 
"  The  Raggedy  Man "  are  not  peculiar  to 
Indiana,  but  have  their  respective  counterparts 
in  such  characters  as  Mark  Twain's  "Pudd'n- 
head  Wilson "  and  the  wayside  tramp,  who 
has  lately  been  a  feature  of  farce  comedy 
rather  than  of  our  social  economy.  "  Fessler's 
Bees,"  "Nothin'  to  say,"  "Down  to  the  Capi- 
tal," "A  Liz-town  Humorist,"  and  "Squire 
Hawkins's  Story  "  show  Mr.  Riley  at  his  hap- 
piest as  a  delineator  of  the  rural  type.  In 
these  sketches  he  gives  in  brief  compass  the 
effect  of  little  dramas,  now  humorous,  now 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  165 

touched  with  simple  and  natural  pathos,  and 
showing  a  nice  appreciation  of  the  color  of 
language  which  is  quite  as  essential  in  dialect 
as  in  pure  English.  But  it  matters  little  that 
the  dramatis  persona  change,  or  that  the  liter- 
ary method  varies ;  the  same  kindliness,  the 
same  blending  of  humor  and  pathos,  and  the 
same  background  of  "  green  fields  and  run- 
ning brooks"  characterize  all.  "The  crude 
man  is,"  the  poet  believes,  "  generally  moral," 
and  the  Riley  Hoosier  is  intuitively  religious, 
and  is  distinguished  by  his  rectitude  and  sense 
of  justice. 

Mr.  Riley  made  his  work  effective  through 
the  possession  of  a  sound  instinct  for  apprais- 
ing his  material,  combined  with  a  good  sense 
of  proportion.  His  touch  grew  steadily  firmer, 
and  he  became  more  fastidious  as  the  public 
made  greater  demands  upon  him ;  for  while 
his  poems  in  dialect  gained  him  a  hearing, 
he  strove  earnestly  for  excellence  in  the  use 
of  literary  English.  He  has  written  many 
poems  of  sentiment  gracefully  and  musically, 
and  with  no  suggestion  of  dialect.  Abundant 
instances  of  his  felicity  in  the  strain  of  retro- 


1 66  THE  HOOSIERS 

spect  and  musing  might  be  cited.  The  same 
chords  have  been  struck  time  and  time  again  ; 
but  they  take  new  life  when  he  touches  them, 
as  in  "The  All-Golden":  — 

"  I  catch  my  breath,  as  children  do 
In  woodland  swings  when  life  is  new, 
And  all  the  blood  is  warm  as  wine 
And  tingles  with  a  tang  divine.  .  .  . 
O  gracious  dream,  and  gracious  time, 
And  gracious  theme,  and  gracious  rhyme  — 
When  buds  of  Spring  begin  to  blow 
In  blossoms  that  we  used  to  know. 
And  lure  us  back  along  the  ways 
Of  time's  all-golden  yesterdays  ! " 

It  is  not  the  farmer  alone  whose  simple  vir- 
tues appeal  to  him ;  but  rugged  manhood  any- 
where commands  his  tribute,  arid  he  has  hardly 
written  a  more  touching  lyric  than  "Away," 
whose  subject  was  an  Indiana  soldier:  — 

"  I  cannot  say,  and  I  will  not  say 
That  he  is  dead  —  He  is  just  away  !  " 

He  has  his  own  manner  of  expressing  an 
idea,  and  this  individuality  is  so  marked  that 
it  might  lead  to  the  belief  that  he  had 
little  acquaintance  with  the  classic  English 
writers.  But  his  series  of  imitations,  includ- 
ing the  prose  of  Scott  and  Dickens  and 


THE   HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  167 

the  characteristic  poems  of  Tennyson  and 
Longfellow,  are  certainly  the  work  of  one  who 
reads  to  good  purpose  and  has  a  feeling  for 
style.  When  he  writes  naturally  there  is  no 
trace  of  bookishness  in  his  work ;  he  rarely  or 
never  invokes  the  mythologies,  though  it  has 
sometimes  pleased  him  to  imagine  Pan  piping 
in  Hoosier  orchards.  He  is  read  and  quoted 
by  many  who  are  not  habitual  readers  of 
poetry  —  who  would  consider  it  a  sign  of 
weakness  to  be  caught  in  the  act  of  reading 
poems  of  any  kind,  but  who  tolerate  senti- 
ment in  him  because  he  makes  it  perfectly 
natural  and  surrounds  it  with  a  familiar  atmos- 
phere of  reality.  The  average  man  must  be 
trapped  into  any  display  of  emotion,  and  Mr. 
Riley  spreads  for  him  many  nets  from  which 
there  is  no  escape,  as  in  "  Nothin'  to  say,  my 
daughter,"  where  the  subject  is  the  loneliness 
and  isolation  of  the  father  whose  daughter  is 
about  to  marry,  and  who  faces  the  situation 
clumsily,  in  the  manner  of  all  fathers,  rich  or 
poor.  The  remembrance  of  the  dead  wife 
and  mother  adds  to  the  pathos  here.  The  old 
man  turns  naturally  to  the  thought  of  her:  — 


1 68  THE   HOOSIERS 

"You  don't  rickollect  her,  I  reckon?     No;  you  wasn't  a 

year  old  then  ! 
And   now   yer  —  how   old   air   you  ?     W'y,   child,   not 

'twenty'".     When? 
And  yer  nex'  birthday's  in  Aprile  ?  and  you  want  to  git 

married  that  day  ? 
I  wisht  yer  mother  was  livin'  !  —  but  I  hain't  got  nothin' 

to  say ! 

Twenty  year  !  and  as  good  a  gyrl  as  parent  ever  found  ! 
There's  a  straw  ketched  onto  yer  dress  there  —  I'll  bresh 

it  off —  turn  round. 

(Her  mother  was  jest  twenty  when  us  two  run  away.) 
Nothin'  to  say,  my  daughter  !     Nothin'  at  all  to  say  ! " 

The  drolleries  of  childhood  have  furnished 
Mr.  Riley  subjects  for  some  of  his  most 
original  and  popular  verses.  Here,  again,  he 
does  not  accept  the  conventional  children  of 
literature,  whom  he  calls  "the  refined  chil- 
dren, the  very  proper  children  —  the  studiously 
thoughtful,  poetic  children " ;  but  he  seeks 
"  the  rough-and-tumble  little  fellows  '  in  hodden 
gray,'  with  frowzly  heads,  begrimed  but 
laughing  faces,  and  such  awful  vulgarities  of 
naturalness,  and  crimes  of  simplicity,  and  brazen 
faith  and  trust,  and  love  of  life  and  everybody 
in  it ! "  It  is  in  this  spirit  that  he  presents 
now  the  na'fve,  now  the  perversely  erring,  and 


THE  HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  169 

again  the  eerie  and  elfish  child.  He  is  a 
master  of  those  enchantments  of  childhood 
that  transfigure  and  illumine  and  create  a 
world  of  the  imagination  for  the  young  that 
is  undiscoverable  save  to  the  elect  few.  He 
does  not  write  patronizingly  to  his  audience ; 
but  listens,  as  one  should  listen  in  the  realm 
of  childhood,  with  serious  attention,  and  then 
becomes  an  amanuensis,  transcribing  the  chil- 
dren's legends  and  guesses  at  the  riddle  of 
existence  in  their  own  language.  "The  Rag- 
gedy Man "  is  not  a  romantic  figure ;  he  is 
the  shabby  chore-man  of  the  well-to-do  folk 
in  the  country  town,  and  the  friend  and  oracle 
of  small  boys.  His  mind  is  filled  with  rare 
lore,  he — 

"  Knows  'bout  Giunts,  an1  Griffuns  an'  Elves 
An'  the  Squidgicum-Squees  'at  swallers  therselves ! " 

And  he  may  be  responsible,  too,  for  "  Little 
Orphant  Annie's  "  knowledge  of  the  "  Gobble- 
uns,"  which  Mr.  Riley  turned  into  the  most 
successful  of  all  his  juvenile  pieces.  He  repro- 
duces most  vividly  a  child's  eager,  breathless 
manner  of  speech,  and  the  elisions  and  varia- 
tions that  make  the  child-dialect.  Interspersed 


THE  HOOSIERS 

through  "The  Child  World,"  a  long  poem  in 
rhymed  couplets,  are  a  number  of  droll  juvenile 
recitatives ;  but  this  poem  has  a  much  greater 
value  than  at  first  appears.  It  presents  an 
excellent  picture  of  domestic  life  in  a  western 
country  town,  and  the  town  is  Mr.  Riley's  own 
Greenfield,  on  the  National  Road.  This  poem 
is  a  faithful  chronicle,  lively  and  humorous,  full 
of  the  local  atmosphere,  and  never  dull.  The 
descriptions  of  the  characters  are  in  Mr.  Riley's 
happiest  vein :  the  father  of  the  house,  a  law- 
yer and  leading  citizen ;  the  patient  mother ; 
the  children  with  their  various  interests,  leading 
up  to  "  Uncle  Mart,"  the  printer,  who  aspired 
to  be  an  actor  — 

"  He  joyed  in  verse-quotations  —  which  he  took 
Out  of  the  old  '  Type  Foundry  Specimen  Book.' " 

The  poem  is  written  in  free,  colloquial  English, 
broken  by  lapses  into  the  vernacular.  It  con- 
tains some  of  his  best  writing,  and  proves  him 
to  possess  a  range  and  breadth  of  vision  that 
are  not  denoted  in  his  lyrical  pieces  alone. 
"  The  Flying  Islands  of  the  Night,  a  fantastic 
drama  in  verse,"  his  only  other  effort  of  length, 
was  written  earlier.  It  abounds  in  the  curious 


THE  HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  1 71 

and  capricious,  but  it  lacks  in  simplicity  and 
reserve  — qualities  that  have  steadily  grown 
in  him. 

Humor  is  preeminent  in  Mr.  Riley,  and  it 
suggests  that  of  Dickens  in  its  kinship  with 
pathos.  It  seems  to  be  peculiar  to  the  literature 
of  lowly  life  that  there  is  heartache  beneath 
much  of  its  gayety,  and  tears  are  almost  inevi- 
tably associated  with  its  laughter.  Mr.  Riley 
never  satirizes,  never  ridicules  his  creations ; 
his  attitude  is  always  that  of  the  kindly  and 
admiring  advocate ;  and  it  is  by  enlisting  the 
sympathy  of  his  readers,  suggesting  much  to 
their  feeling  and  imagination,  and  awakening 
in  them  a  response  that  aids  and  supplements 
his  own  work,  that  Mr.  Riley  has  won  his  way 
to  the  popular  heart.  The  restraints  of  fixed 
forms  have  not  interfered  with  his  adequate 
expression  of  pure  feeling.  This  is  proved  by 
the  sonnet,  "When  She  Comes  Home  Again," 
which  is  one  of  the  tenderest  of  his  poems. 
In  the  day  that  saw  many  of  his  contempo- 
raries in  the  younger  choir  of  poets  carving 
cherry  stones  of  verse  after  French  patterns 
he  found  old  English  models  sufficient,  and 


172  THE   HOOSIERS 

his  own  whim  supplied  all  the  variety  he 
needed.  Heroic  themes  have  not  tempted 
him ;  he  has  never  attained  sonority  or  power, 
and  has  never  needed  them;  but  melody  and 
sweetness  and  a  singular  gift  of  invention 
distinguish  him. 

Many  imitators  have  paid  tribute  to  Mr. 
Riley's  dialect  verse,  for  most  can  grow  the 
flowers  after  the  seed  have  been  freely  blown 
in  the  market-place.  Perhaps  the  best  compli- 
ment that  can  be  paid  to  Mr.  Riley's  essential 
veracity  is  to  compare  the  verse  of  those  who 
have  made  attempts  similar  to  his  own.  He  is, 
for  example,  a  much  better  artist  than  Will 
Carleton,  who  came  before  him,  and  whose 
"Farm  Ballads  "  are  deficient  in  humor;  and 
he  possesses  a  breadth  of  sympathy  and  a  depth 
of  sincerity  that  Eugene  Field  did  not  attain  in 
dialect  verse,  though  Field's  versatility  and  fecun- 
dity were  amazing.  There  is  nowhere  in  Mr. 
Riley  a  trace  of  the  coarse  brutality  with  which 
Mr.  Hamlin  Garland,  for  example,  stamps  the 
life  of  a  region  lying  farther  west.  There  is 
no  point  of  contact  between  Lowell  and  Mr. 
Riley  in  their  dialectic  performances,  as  civic 


THE   HOOSIER   INTERPRETED  173 

matters  do  not  interest  the  Indianian  ;  and  his 
view  of  the  Civil  War  becomes  naturally  that 
of  the  countryman  who  looks  back  with  wistful 
melancholy,  not  to  the  national  danger  and  dread, 
but  to  the  neighborhood's  glory  and  sorrow,  as 
in  "  Good-by,  Jim."  It  might  also  be  said  that 
Mr.  Riley  has  never  put  the  thoughts  of  states- 
men into  the  mouths  of  countrymen,  as  Lowell 
did,  consistency  being  one  of  his  qualities.  There 
has  sprung  up  in  Mr.  Riley's  time  a  choir  of 
versifiers  who  are  journalistic  rather  than  liter- 
ary, and  who  write  for  the  day,  much  as  the 
reporters  do.  Mr.  Riley,  more  than  any  one 
else,  has  furnished  the  models  for  these,  and 
it  would  seem  that  verses  could  be  multiplied 
interminably,  or  so  long  as  such  refrains  as 
"  When  father  winds  the  clock  "  and  "  The  hymns 
that  mother  used  to  sing"  can  be  found  for 
texts. 

With  the  publication  of  the  "Benj.  F.  John- 
son" poems  in  a  paper-covered  booklet,  Mr. 
Riley's  literary  career  began.  The  intervening 
years  have  brought  him  continuous  applause  ; 
his  books  of  verse  have  been  sold  widely  in  this 
country  and  in  England,  and  that,  too,  in  "  the 


1/4  THE  HOOSIERS 

twilight  of  the  poets,"  with  its  contemporaneous 
oblivion  for  many  who  have  labored  bravely  in 
the  paths  of  song.  He  early  added  to  his  repu- 
tation as  a  writer  that  of  a  most  successful 
reader  of  his  own  poems,  and  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic  his  work  and  his  unique  personal- 
ity have  won  for  him  the  friendship  of  many 
distinguished  literary  men  of  the  day.  It  is  to 
be  said  that  the  devotion  of  the  people  of  his 
own  State  to  their  poet,  from  first  to  last,  has 
been  marked  by  a  cordiality  and  loyalty  that 
might  well  be  the  envy  of  any  man  in  any  field 
of  endeavor.  No  other  Western  poet  has  ever 
occupied  a  similar  place ;  and  the  reciprocal 
devotion,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  poet  to  his 
own  people,  is  not  less  noteworthy  or  admirable. 
He  has  always  resented  the  suggestion  that  he 
should  leave  Indiana  for  Boston  or  New  York, 
where  he  might  be  more  in  touch  with  the 
makers  of  books;  and  in  recent  years  he  pur- 
chased the  old  family  residence  at  Greenfield, 
to  which  he  returns  frequently  for  rest  and 
inspiration.  For  fifteen  years  he  has  been  the 
best-known  figure  in  Indianapolis,  studying 
with  tireless  attention  the  faces  in  the  streets, 


THE   HOOSIER  INTERPRETED  1/5 

nervously  ranging  the  book-stores,  and  often 
sitting  down  to  write  a  poem  at  the  desk 
of  some  absentee  in  the  Journal  office.  His 
frequent  reading  and  lecturing  tours  have 
been  miserable  experiences  for  him,  as  he  is 
utterly  without  the  instinct  of  locality,  and  has 
timidly  sat  in  the  hotels  of  strange  towns 
for  many  hours  for  lack  of  the  courage  re- 
quisite for  exploration.  Precision  and  correct- 
ness have  distinguished  him  in  certain  ways, 
being  marked,  for  example,  in  matters  of  dress 
and  in  his  handwriting ;  his  manuscripts  are 
flawlessly  correct,  and  the  slouch  and  negligence 
of  the  traditional  poet  are  not  observed  in 
him. 

His  long  list  of  books  includes  "  Afterwhiles  " 
(1887);  "Pipes  of  Pan  at  Zekesbury"  (1888); 
"Old-fashioned  Roses"  (1889);  "Rhymes  of 
Childhood  "  (1891) ;  and  "  Poems  Here  at  Home  " 
(1897);  and  he  has  known  the  luxury  of  a  cos- 
mopolitan edition  of  his  writings  in  a  series 
that  embraced  the  definitive  Stevenson.  Fame 
came  to  Mr.  Riley  when  he  was  still  young, 
and  it  is  only  a  fair  assumption  that  he  has 
not  exhausted  his  field,  but  that  he  will  grow 


1 76  THE  HOOSIERS 

more  and  more  secure  in  it.  Serious  work  it 
has  not  always  been  possible  for  him  to  do, 
for  his  audience  learned  to  expect  humor  in 
all  his  verses,  and  refused  to  be  disappointed ; 
but  his  ambition  lies  beyond  humorous  dialect, 
though  he  finds  no  fault  with  the  public  pref- 
erence. All  that  he  writes  is  welcome,  for  he 
is  a  preacher  of  sound  optimism  and  a  sincere 
believer  in  the  final  good  that  comes  to  all. 


CHAPTER  VI 

CRAWFORDSVILLE 

THERE  is  an  ineffable  charm  about  an  old 
town  that  has  outlived  its  ambition  to  be  a 
great  city,  and  Crawfordsville  is  a  fine  type 
of  such  a  place.  The  region  was  settled  in 
1823,  and  the  Montgomery  County  people,  both 
farmers  and  townfolk,  have  long  been  counted 
among  the  sturdiest  and  most  intelligent  in  the 
State.  A  cultivated  society  has  always  existed 
at  Crawfordsville,  and  as  the  seat  of  Wabash 
College  it  acquired  in  its  youth  an  academic 
air  that  it  has  never  shaken  off.  The  town 
has  been  called  "The  Hoosier  Athens,"  by  en- 
vious and  less  favored  neighbors.  The  analogy 
is  not  wholly  fortunate,  as  there  are  neither 
porticoes  nor  statues  on  the  college  campus, 
and  no  Cimon  found  occupation  here,  as  at 
the  elder  Athens,  in  tree-planting.  Nature  had 
anticipated  the  need  of  "groves  of  academe," 
and  the  trees  about  the  college  and  through 

N  177 


1/8  THE   HOOSIERS 

^    &A 

the  town  are  truly  of  the  forest  primeval, 
giving  the  agreeable  impression  of  a  rus  in 
urbe.  Crawfordsville  has  often  sent  young 
men  elsewhere  to  find  occupation;  but  if  its 
commercial  attractions  have  been  slight,  its 
educational  advantages  have  been  proportion- 
ately great,  and  Wabash  is  able  to  point  to  a 
long  list  of  successful  alumni.  The  spirit  of 
change  has  rarely  invaded  the  college,  and  men 
are  now  holding  chairs  who  have  grown  old  in 
its  service.  Wabash  has  been  content  to  do 
honest  college  work  and  has  never  made  false 
pretensions  as  to  its  ability  to  do  more.  "  Mere 
literature,"  as  Bagehot  fondly  called  it,  has  not 
been  disregarded,  and  in  no  college  of  ampler 
endowment  have  the  classics  been  taught  more 
sympathetically  or  intelligently.  It  is  one  of 
the  few  colleges  remaining  at  the  West  which 
close  their  doors  to  women,  although  importu- 
nate hands  have  long  besought  the  wicket. 

The  honor  and  dignity  of  learning  have 
come  to  have  a  real  meaning  here,  not  only 
to  those  who  seek  instruction  at  the  college, 
but  to  the  people  of  the  town  as  well.  Wabash 
may  not  have  directly  influenced  those  who 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  1/9 

made  Crawfordsville  a  seat  of  authorship,  but 
certainly  a  fortunate  chance  led  makers  of 
books  to  seek  the  congenial  atmosphere  created 
by  the  college.  In  such  a  place  one  may 
not  grow  rich,  but  one  may  dwell  contented ; 
and  while  coarser  commerce  has  not  flour- 
ished greatly,  much  valuable  manuscript  has 
freighted  the  east-bound  mails  from  Craw- 
fordsville. Authorship  and  scholarship  alone 
have  not  engaged  the  inhabitants.  Joseph  E. 
McDonald,  later  a  senator  in  Congress,  once 
lived  here,  as  did  also  John  M.  Butler,  who 
became  McDonald's  law  partner  at  Indianapo- 
lis and  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  the  Western 
bar.  Butler's  son,  John  Maurice  Butler,  was 
born  at  Crawfordsville,  and  his  untimely  death 
(1896)  removed  the  man  of  most  charming 
personality,  and  the  keenest  wit  of  his  genera- 
tion at  the  capital.  Henry  Beebee  Carrington 
had  identified  himself  with  Indiana's  partici- 
pation in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  before 
he  became  (1870-1873)  professor  of  military 
science  at  Wabash.  His  stay  at  Crawfords- 
ville was  brief,  but  the  inhabitants  prefer  to 
believe  that  as  he  once  breathed  the  Athenian 


180  THE  HOOSIERS 

air  they  are  entitled  to  share  with  Connecticut, 
his  native  State  and  later  home,  in  the  credit 
for  his  writings.  The  Whitlocks  and  the 
Elstons  were  among  the  first  settlers,  and  were 
prominent  in  all  the  earlier  labors  of  the  com- 
munity. Henry  S.  Lane,  General  Wallace's 
brother-in-law,  was  a  senator  in  Congress 
(1860-1867),  and  lived  and  died  here. 

I.    General  Lew   Wallace 

General  Lew  Wallace,  whose  varied  achieve- 
ments have  contributed  so  largely  to  the  town's 
fame,  was  not  born  at  Crawfordsville,  but  at 
Brookville,  in  Franklin  County,  April  10,  1827. 
His  father,  David  Wallace,  had  resigned  from 
the  regular  army  soon  after  his  graduation  from 
West  Point  in  1821.  He  studied  law  at  Brook- 
ville, and  soon  began  an  interesting  public  career. 
He  was  one  of  the  political  giants  of  the  State 
in  his  day,  holding  many  offices  and  positions  of 
honor.  His  first  wife,  General  Wallace's  mother, 
was  the  daughter  of  John  Test,  of  a  family  long 
prominent  in  the  State.  General  Wallace  was  an 
adventurous  boy,  impatient  of  all  restraint,  and 
fond  of  wandering,  and  he  therefore  received 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  l8l 

little  systematic  education  ;  but  his  father  owned 
an  excellent  library,  and,  as  has  happened  with 
other  boys  who  have  refused  to  submit  to  the 
schoolmaster,  he  found  his  own  way  to  the  book 
shelves.  He  was  for  a  time  a  student  at  Hosh- 
our's  school  at  Centerville ;  and  he  once  ran 
away  to  join  an  older  brother  at  Wabash ;  but 
he  was  either  unwilling  or  unable  to  break  his 
nomadic  habits,  and  continued  to  roam  the 
woods  until,  at  sixteen,  his  school  bills  were 
audited  for  the  last  time.  He  was  beset  by 
several  ambitions ;  literature,  art,  and  a  military 
career  invited  him.  He  had  some  skill  at  sketch- 
ing, and  painted  a  portrait  of  Black  Hawk,  the 
Indian  chief,  drawing  on  the  family  medicine 
chest  for  castor  oil  to  use  in  mixing  his  colors. 
He  also  completed  a  novel,  "  The  Man  at  Arms  : 
A  Tale  of  the  Tenth  Century,"  of  which  he  re- 
members little ;  but  Sulgrove  in  one  of  his  chron- 
icles darkly  hints  that  it  was  of  the  school  of 
G.  P.  R.  James.  Robert  Duncan,  clerk  of  Marion 
County,  in  which  Indianapolis  is  situated,  em- 
ployed him  as  copyist,  and  he  varied  this  prosaic 
occupation  by  reading  law  in  his  father's  office. 
The  Mexican  War  now  broke  upon  the  country, 


1 82  THE   HOOSIERS 

and  as  Lewis — the  second  syllable  disappeared 
during  the  Civil  War  —  had  painted  a  picture 
and  written  a  romance,  he  now  turned  naturally 
to  his  third  ambition.  He  organized  a  company 
and  went  south  with  the  First  Indiana  Infantry. 
The  regiment  saw  little  of  the  war,  but  the  cam- 
paign and  his  personal  experience  in  military 
matters  confirmed  young  Wallace's  purpose  to 
write  a  novel  of  Mexico,  for  which,  by  a  kind  of 
prevision  and  the  inspiration  of  Prescott,  he 
had  already  made  tentative  sketches.  On  his 
return  to  Indiana  he  again  took  up  the  law,  and 
practised  at  Covington  until  1852,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Crawfordsville,  which  has  ever  since 
been  his  home.  He  presently  organized  a  mili- 
tary company,  known  as  the  "  Montgomery 
Guards,"  and  equipped  it  with  the  Zouave  uni- 
form. This  furnished  an  outlet  for  his  ceaseless 
energy,  and  also  for  his  pocket-book,  as  the 
State  contributed  nothing  to  the  company's  sup- 
port. He  brought  it  to  a  high  standard  of 
efficiency,  and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  Civil  War 
it  was  one  of  the  best-drilled  military  organiza- 
tions in  the  country.  Governor  Morton  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Wallace  adjutant-general  of  the 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  183 

State  at  the  first  sign  of  hostilities,  but  he 
served  in  this  capacity  for  a  short  time  only, 
and  organized  the  Eleventh  Indiana  Regiment, 
with  his  original  Crawfordsville  company  as 
nucleus,  and  began  an  active  and  brilliant 
career  in  the  army.  Almost  immediately  his 
regiment  distinguished  itself  in  West  Virginia. 
He  was  a  brigadier-general  before  the  capture 
of  Fort  Henry,  and  was  made  major-general 
for  gallantry  at  Donelson.  A  year  after  Shiloh, 
a  friend  called  General  Wallace's  attention  to 
the  official  reports  of  that  engagement,  and  he 
learned  for  the  first  time  that  he  had  been  cen- 
sured for  his  conduct  on  the  first  day  of  the 
battle.  He  asked  at  once  for  a  court  of  in- 
quiry, which  was  denied,  and  a  long  controversy 
followed.  This  died  out  for  a  time,  but  was 
renewed  when  Grant  began  the  serial  publica- 
tion of  his  memoirs.  It  was  always  maintained 
by  General  Wallace's  friends  that  Grant  was 
unjust  to  Wallace ;  that  the  Indiana  officer 
faithfully  obeyed  orders  actually  given  him ; 
and  certainly  no  one  who  ever  had  any  acquain- 
tance with  General  Wallace  would  believe  him 
capable  of  intentionally  taking  a  circuitous 


1 84  THE  HOOSIERS 

route  to  a  battle-field.  The  effective  service. of 
his  command  on  the  second  day  of  the  battle 
should  forever  have  stilled  criticism ;  as  it  was, 
Grant  wrote  in  his  memoirs  —  the  last  words 
that  ever  came  from  his  pen  —  a  footnote  to  his 
account  of  Pittsburg  Landing  that  fairly  acquitted 
General  Wallace  of  all  blame.  Much  has  been 
written,  by  participants  and  others,  touching  the 
incident,  and  it  has  been  made  the  subject  of  an 
exhaustive  study  by  George  F.  McGinnis.1  While 
stationed  at  Baltimore,  in  1 864,  General  Wallace 
prevented  a  Confederate  descent  upon  Washing- 
ton by  intercepting  Jubal  Early  at  Monocacy. 
He  threw  6,000  men  against  Early's  force  of 
28,000,  suffering  defeat,  but  detaining  the  enemy 
until  Grant  could  send  reinforcements  from 
Virginia.  This  was  one  of  the  most  important 
of  all  his  military  services,  and  he  received  for  it 
Grant's  cordial  praise.  General  Wallace  was  a 
member  of  the  court  that  tried  the  conspirators 
implicated  in  the  assassination  of  Lincoln  ;  and 
he  was  president  of  the  commission  that  tried  and 
convicted  Captain  Henry  Wirz,  commandant  of 
Andersonville  Prison. 

1  "  War  Papers,"  Indiana  Commandery,  Loyal  Legion,  1898. 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  185 

When  General  Wallace  returned  to  Craw- 
fords  ville  at  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  thirty- 
eight  ;  he  had  served  creditably  in  one  war  and 
with  enviable  distinction  in  a  second,  and  he 
turned  to  the  arts  of  peace  from  a  military 
experience  that  had  given  him  wide  reputation 
and  acquaintance  among  public  men  of  the 
Civil  War  period.  He  began  industriously  to 
reestablish  himself  in  his  law  practice,  and 
varied  his  occupation  with  study  and  literary 
work.  "The  Man  at  Arms,"  his  youthful  at- 
tempt at  "  A  Tale  of  the  Tenth  Century,"  had 
disappeared  during  his  absence  in  Mexico  ;  but 
the  ambition  to  write  a  romance  of  the  invasion 
of  Cortez,  and  his  manuscript  beginnings  of  it, 
had  survived  two  wars,  and  he  now  set  about 
finishing  the  story.  He  had  at  this  time  no 
definite  ambition  to  become  an  author,  and  he 
gave  his  evenings  to  the  writing  of  "  The  Fair 
God  "  with  little  idea  of  ever  publishing  it.  Af- 
ter its  completion  he  carried  it  East  with  him 
on  a  business  journey.  Whitelaw  Reid  gave 
him  an  introduction  to  a  Boston  publisher,  and 
the  result  was  the  appearance  of  the  tale  in 
1873.  He  had  spent  in  all  about  twelve  years 


1 86  THE   HOOSIERS 

on  the  book,  part  having  been  written,  as  al- 
ready stated,  in  his  boyhood ;  and  the  author's 
faithfulness  to  his  early  purpose  through  many 
years  that  had  brought  new  duties  and  obliga- 
tions is  in  keeping  with  his  whole  character. 

The  scenes  of  "The  Fair  God"  were  unfamil- 
iar to  the  novel  reader,  and  the  very  names  in 
the  book  were  somewhat  disconcerting ;  but  the 
tale  was  received  in  the  beginning  with  a  fair 
degree  of  interest,  and  it  has  ever  since  enjoyed 
a  steady  sale.  The  subsequent  success  of  "  Ben 
Hur  "  directed  attention  anew  to  General  Wal- 
lace's earlier  tale,  but  the  romance  was  some- 
thing more  than  an  amateur  effort,  and  time 
has  not  diminished  its  entertaining  qualities. 
As  a  picture  of  Aztecan  civilization  it  is  accu- 
rate, and  the  incidents  are  related  in  an  orderly 
and  natural  manner  that  holds  the  attention. 
The  devotion  of  the  people  to  their  religion  is 
impressive;  but  the  tale  is  essentially  a  mili- 
tary romance.  The  battle  scenes  following  the 
appearance  of  Cortez  and  his  Spaniards  are 
described  with  an  animation  and  an  amplitude 
that  impart  to  the  reader  the  sense  of  behold- 
ing a  series  of  great  spectacles.  The  book  is 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  1 87 

rich  in  those  surprises  which  it  is  the  business 
of  the  romancer  to  produce ;  and  the  chapters 
descriptive  of  the  battle  towers  (manias)  which 
were  among  the  European's  resources,  and  of 
the  retreat  of  the  invaders,  are  noisy  with  the 
clang  of  battle.  The  prophecies  of  the  mystic 
priest  Mualox,  who  sees  through  the  eyes  of  a 
child  the  coming  of  the  Spaniards,  are  interest- 
ing; and  curiously  enough  they  had  their  origin 
in  an  incident  of  General  Wallace's  own  expe- 
rience in  Indiana,  showing  how  the  imagination 
may  play  upon  the  commonplace.  When  he 
lived  at  Covington,  he  formed  the  acquaintance 
of  a  tailor  who  was  deeply  interested  in  the 
occult  sciences,  and  who  once  invited  General 
Wallace  to  his  shop  to  witness  manifestations 
of  his  powers.  The  tailor  placed  his  appren- 
tice under  a  kind  of  hypnotic  influence,  and 
told  General  Wallace  to  take  the  boy's  hand 
and  to  follow  in  his  own  mind  some  route 
with  whose  details  he  was  familiar.  General 
Wallace  obeyed,  mentally  reviewing  a  high- 
way that  led  to  the  house  of  a  farmer  client. 
The  boy's  lips  moved,  and  he  coherently 
described  the  road,  and  presently  the  farm- 


1 88  THE  HOOSIERS 

house,  just  as  General  Wallace  saw  them ;  then 
he  abruptly  ceased  to  follow  the  leader's  train 
of  thought.  He  said  that  it  was  night;  that 
some  one  came  out  of  the  house  with  a  light, 
walked  about  inspecting  the  barnyard,  and  then 
returned  to  the  house.  The  boy  had  now  be- 
come exhausted ;  the  tailor  revived  him,  and 
General  Wallace  went  on  to  his  home.  A  few 
days  later,  when  the  countryman  whose  farm 
had  figured  in  the  incident  came  to  town,  Gen- 
eral Wallace  asked  him  if  he  had  been  at  home 
at  the  hour  mentioned ;  he  replied  that  he  had 
been  at  home  and  asleep.  Further  questioning 
elicited  the  statement  that  at  about  the  time 
of  the  experiment  at  the  tailor  shop  he  had 
been  aroused  by  noises  in  the  barnyard,  and 
that,  fearing  some  marauder  was  after  his 
fowls,  he  had  taken  a  light  and  gone  out  to 
see  that  all  was  secure. 

The  friendly  reception  of  "  The  Fair  God  " 
did  not  awaken  any  unusual  interest  in  General 
Wallace  as  a  writer.  He  continued  at  Craw- 
fordsville  the  life  of  a  lawyer  of  polite  tastes, 
keenly  interested  in  politics.  "  The  Fair  God  " 
out  of  the  way,  he  began  almost  immediately 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  189 

to  cast  about  for  some  new  literary  employment. 
In  about  1874  it  occurred  to  him  to  write  a  nov- 
elette, whose  principal  incident  should  be  the 
meeting  of  the  Wise  Men  in  the  Desert  and  the 
birth  of  Christ.  The  brief  account  in  the  Gos- 
pels had  long  appealed  to  his  imagination,  and 
he  wrote  what  is  now  the  first  book  of  "  Ben 
Hur,"  intending  to  offer  it  to  some  magazine 
for  publication  as  a  sketch,  with  illustrations. 
While  the  manuscript  still  lay  in  his  desk,  he 
met  on  a  railway  journey  an  old  friend,  Colonel 
Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  and  in  the  course  of  conver- 
sation the  famous  sceptic  touched  on  the  subject 
of  Christianity.  General  Wallace  had  always 
been  indifferent  in  religious  matters,  neither 
denying  nor  affirming;  but  Ingersoll's  down- 
right iconoclasm  alarmed  him.  He  determined 
to  investigate  the  subject  and  form  his  own  con- 
clusions ;  and  he  began  researches  and  studies 
which  continued  through  five  years.  When  he 
had  concluded,  he  fully  accepted  the  tenets  of 
Christian  faith,  and  he  had  amplified  his  sketch 
of  the  Wise  Men  into  the  novel  "Ben  Hur.'' 
Continuous  labor  had  not  been  possible  during 
the  writing  of  this  tale :  he  had  been  busy  with 


I QO  THE  HOOSIERS 

everyday  affairs;  politics  received  a  share  of 
his  attention;  and  he  became,  in  1878,  by  ap- 
pointment of  President  Hayes,  governor  of 
New  Mexico  Territory.  He  lived  at  Santa  Fe 
for  three  years,  and  much  of  "  Ben  Hur  "  was 
written  in  the  governor's  house  there.  General 
Wallace  had  never  visited  Palestine  when  he 
wrote  "  Ben  Hur,"  but  there  are  points  of  resem- 
blance between  the  landscape  of  New  Mexico 
and  that  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  these  were  of 
assistance.  He  procured  a  profile  map  of  Pal- 
estine, and  was  so  attentive  to  topographical  de- 
tail that  later,  when  he  visited  the  scenes  of  his 
story  in  company  with  a  recognized  authority  in 
ancient  history,  every  feature  of  the  country  as 
described  in  the  book  was  verified.  An  immense 
amount  of  labor  is  represented  in  this  novel. 
Many  volumes  were  consulted  in  the  search  for 
antiquarian  lore,  that  it  might  lack  nothing 
that  would  aid  in  conveying  an  accurate  impres- 
sion of  the  period. 

The  book  was  capitally  planned,  striking  epi- 
sodes falling  into  place  naturally,  and  not  too 
abundantly.  The  meeting  of  the  Wise  Men, 
the  sea  fight,  and  the  chariot  race  are  dramatic 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  19 1 

to  a  degree;  but  the  sombre  picture  of  the 
crucifixion  is  unmarred  by  excess.  The  rever- 
ence which  characterizes  every  mention  of  the 
Saviour  is  the  author's  happiest  achievement  in 
the  story.  The  subject  is  difficult,  but  it  is 
handled  with  admirable  taste  and  refinement. 
However,  the  book  does  not  depend  for  con- 
tinued attention  on  its  interest  as  a  religious 
novel ;  it  is  equally  noteworthy  for  its  compre- 
hensive grasp  of  the  politics  of  the  period,  its  pic- 
ture of  the  various  peoples  that  flowed  through 
the  streets  of  Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  and  the  sug- 
gestion of  a  romantic  commerce  whose  exploits 
lay  in  strange  seas  and  beyond  the  deserts.  Noth- 
ing in  the  book  is  accomplished  more  skilfully 
than  the  slow  extinction  of  the  idea  of  the  coming 
of  a  great  ruler  of  the  world,  to  rebuild  the  throne 
of  Solomon,  and  the  gradual  acceptance  of  the 
spiritual  significance  of  Christ's  advent ;  and  it 
may  be  taken,  in  connection  with  the  history  of 
the  novel,  as  a  revelation  of  the  growth  in  the 
author's  own  mind  of  a  belief  in  the  divine  Sav- 
iour. Historical  novels,  particularly  those  that 
look  to  antiquity  for  subjects,  follow  necessa- 
rily certain  traditions,  and  these  are  observed 


I Q2  THE  HOOSIERS 

carefully  by  General  Wallace.  Scott,  more 
than  any  other,  helped  him,  and  "  Ivanhoe,"  in 
particular,  was  his  model.  The  writing  in  "  Ben 
Hur"  is  uniformly  good,  and  the  dialogue  in 
archaic  speech  is  well  sustained.  General  Wallace 
wrote  out  of  an  ample  vocabulary  enriched  by 
the  constant  reading  of  Oriental  narrative,  and 
in  his  descriptions  the  epithets  are  always  ap- 
posite. The  success  of  "  Ben  Hur "  was  not 
immediate.  It  sold  slowly  for  several  years, 
but  it  gained  steadily  in  popularity  and  contin- 
ues in  favor  with  the  booksellers.  It  has  been 
translated  into  all  the  European  languages,  into 
Arabic  and  Japanese,  and  it  is  accessible  to  the 
blind  in  raised-letter.  The  sale  of  the  copyright 
edition  in  America  (1900)  exceeds  1,200,000, 
which  is  probably  greater  than  that  of  "  Uncle 
Tom's  Cabin."  Many  playwrights  and  actors  pro- 
posed to  General  Wallace  from  time  to  time  the 
dramatization  of  "  Ben  Hur,"  but  he  feared  that 
the  spirit  of  reverence,  which  he  had  so  consist- 
ently communicated  to  the  novel,  would  be  lost 
in  any  play  founded  upon  its  incidents.  He 
declined  all  offers  until,  in  1 899,  a  plan  was  sub- 
mitted which  met  his  approval,  and  in  the  fall 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  193 

of  that  year  the  play  was  given  its  first  presenta- 
tion at  New  York. 

When  President  Garfield  appointed  General 
Wallace  minister  to  Turkey,  he  wrote  across  his 
commission  "  Ben  Hur."  General  Wallace 
called  at  the  White  House,  just  before  leaving 
for  his  post,  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  President, 
and  Garfield  said  to  him  :  "  I  expect  another 
book  from  you.  Your  official  duties  will  not  be 
so  onerous  that  you  cannot  write  it.  Make  the 
scene  Constantinople."  The  opportunity  thus 
presented  for  further  literary  work  was  a  con- 
sideration in  accepting  the  post.  The  Turkish 
occupation  of  Constantinople  is  an  incident  of 
great  historical  importance,  and  in  his  search 
for  material  for  a  new  romance,  General  Wal- 
lace determined  to  write  a  tale  that  should  pre- 
sent a  picture  of  the  fierce  struggle  between 
Christian  and  Moslem.  His  studies  at  Con- 
stantinople led  to  the  writing  of  "  The  Prince 
of  India."  The  Prince  is  "The  Wandering 
Jew."  He  appears  as  a  man  of  mysterious 
gifts,  who  wields  great  wealth  and  power.  He 
has  discovered  what  he  believes  to  be  common 
ground  upon  which  all  the  spiritually  minded 


IQ4  THE   HOOSIERS 

may  meet,  irrespective  of  religion.  He  appears 
before  the  Emperor  Constantine  and  presents 
his  plan  for  a  universal  religious  union,  but  he 
horrifies  the  theologians,  and  finding  the  Chris- 
tians unsympathetic,  he  turns  to  Mohammed, 
and  bestows  upon  him  the  sword  of  Solomon, 
the  sign  of  conquest,  which  he  had  found  in  the 
tomb  of  Hiram,  King  of  Tyre.  The  tale  has 
neither  the  interest  of  "  Ben  Hur "  nor  the 
novelty  and  military  ardor  of  "The  Fair 
God."  The  subject  required  deliberate  treat- 
ment, and  the  hero,  who  is  a  scholar  and  a 
mystic,  naturally  deals  in  words  oftener  than  in 
actions. 

General  Wallace's  other  writings  are  "The 
Boyhood  of  Christ  "  (1889),  and  "The  Wooing 
of  Malkatoon :  a  Turkish  Tale,  with  Commo- 
dus,  a  Play  "  (1898),  both  in  blank  verse. 

There  is  nothing  in  General  Wallace's  literary 
career  to  encourage  hasty  and  careless  work- 
manship. His  methods  have  been,  from  the  be- 
ginning, those  of  a  conscientious  artist,  who 
strives  for  excellence  and  is  capable  of  cheerfully 
casting  aside  the  work  of  many  days  if,  by  addi- 
tional labor,  he  can  gain  better  results.  He 


195 

parleys  with  a  sentence  or  debates  with  a  syno- 
nym with  a  caution  that  is  akin  to  Oriental  di- 
plomacy. He  has  probably  never  written  even 
a  social  letter  carelessly,  and  if  his  correspond- 
ence were  to  be  collected,  it  would  prove  to  be 
of  the  same  quality  as  his  best  printed  work. 
There  has  always  been  a  dignity  in  his  ambi- 
tions. Military  leadership  came  to  him  natu- 
rally, and  when  he  took  up  literature,  it  was  in 
a  serious  way,  with  subjects  that  were  new  and 
daring.  By  making  every  stroke  count,  and 
paying  no  heed  to  changing  literary  fashions, 
he  has,  in  the  intervals  of  unusually  varied  and 
exacting  employments,  cultivated  the  literary 
art  with  enviable  success. 

Heredity  and  environment  explain  nothing  in 
General  Wallace.  He  is  an  estray  from  the 
Orient,  whom  Occidental  conditions  have  influ- 
enced little.  This  is  proved  by  all  his  imagina- 
tive writing,  by  his  military  tastes,  by  many 
qualities  of  his  personality,  and  by  his  appear- 
ance and  bearing.  He  has  never  written  of 
American  life,  and  the  attraction  of  Mexico  as 
a  field  for  fiction  lay  in  the  splendor  and  re- 
moteness of  the  early  civilization  of  the  country, 


196  THE   HOOSIERS 

combined  with  the  romance  of  its  conquest  by 
soldiers  of  Spain.  In  like  manner,  "  Ben  Hur  " 
and  "  The  Prince  of  India  "  are  such  subjects  as 
would  naturally  appeal  to  him.  His  fancy  has 
delighted  always  in  the  thought  of  pageantry, 
conquest,  mystery,  and  mighty  deeds ;  it  has 
pleased  him  to  contemplate  the  formal  social  life 
of  the  old  heroic  times.  The  beginning  of  his 
friendship  with  the  Sultan  illustrates  a  sympa- 
thy, native  in  him,  with  the  Oriental  character. 
General  Wallace  had  reached  Constantinople 
after  his  appointment  as  minister,  but  had  not 
been  formally  received.  On  Friday,  the  Moslem 
Sunday,  he  went  with  the  multitude  to  see  the 
Sultan  go  to  prayer.  General  Wallace  was 
entitled,  by  act  of  Congress,  to  wear  the  uni- 
form of  a  major-general  in  the  United  States 
army,  and  he  was  clad  in  all  the  regalia  of  the 
rank.  Between  the  gate  of  the  imperial  park 
and  the  Mosque  which  the  Sultan  attended 
was  a  small  house,  with  a  platform  in  front 
of  it,  set  apart  to  strangers,  and  there  General 
Wallace  viewed  the  procession.  The  dark  man 
in  the  rich  uniform  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  Sultan  as  he  passed,  and  from  the  Mosque 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  197 

he  sent  Osman  Pasha,  the  hero  of  Plevna,  then 
marshal  of  the  palace,  to  learn  the  identity  of 
the  stranger.  On  finding  that  he  was  the  new 
American  minister  awaiting  audience,  the  Sul- 
tan sent  an  invitation  to  General  Wallace  to 
accompany  him  on  his  return  to  the  palace,  an 
honor  never  before  accorded  to  a  minister  not  yet 
received.  A  carriage  was  sent  for  the  Ameri- 
can, who  returned  in  the  brilliant  cortege  next 
to  the  carriage  of  the  Sultan.  The  reception  at 
the  palace  was  particularly  distinguished,  and 
thereafter  the  relations  between  the  two  were 
intimate  and  cordial.  The  Sultan  often  sum- 
moned the  minister  to  the  palace,  sometimes 
requesting  interviews  at  the  dead  of  night.  All 
their  conversation  was  through  an  interpreter, 
as  the  Sultan  knew  no  English  and  General 
Wallace  did  not  speak  French. 

There  was  early  stamped  upon  General  Wal- 
lace an  air  of  authority  that  went  well  with  the 
military  profession ;  but  later  years  have  soft- 
ened this  into  a  courtliness  and  grace  of  manner 
wholly  charming.  The  Oriental  strain  in  him 
has  become  more  and  more  pronounced,  sug- 
gesting that  the  years  spent  in  the  study  of 


198  THE  HOOSIERS 

Eastern   history,    and   his   actual   contact   with 
Oriental  peoples,  have  emphasized  it. 

Mrs.  Wallace  (born  Susan  Arnold  Elston)  is 
a  native  of  Crawfordsville.  Her  father  was 
a  pioneer  of  central  Indiana.  The  homes  of  his 
descendants  are  grouped  in  Elston  Grove,  one 
of  the  prettiest  spots  in  Crawfordsville.  Gen- 
eral and  Mrs.  Wallace  were  married  in  1852, 
and  she  is  "the  wife  of  my  youth,"  to  whom 
"  Ben  Hur  "  was  dedicated.  He  received  so 
many  consolatory  letters  based  on  this  inscrip- 
tion, which  seemed  to  be  misunderstood,  that 
in  later  editions  he  changed  it,  adding  "who 
still  abides  with  me."  Mrs.  Wallace  began 
writing  at  an  early  age,  both  prose  and  verse. 
She  has  never  collected  her  poems,  though  sev- 
eral of  them,  as  "  The  Patter  of  Little  Feet," 
written  years  ago,  are  frequently  brought  to  the 
attention  of  a  new  audience  by  the  newspapers. 
She  has  printed  one  book  of  fiction,  "Ginevra  " 
(1887),  and  three  books  of  travel  sketches,  "The 
Storied  Sea  "(1884);  "The  Land  of  the  Pue- 
blos" (1888);  and  "The  Repose  in  Egypt" 
(1888).  Mrs.  Wallace  has  a  happy  manner  of 
describing  places  and  incidents,  and  the  papers 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  199 

in  these  volumes  show  the  spontaneity  and  ease 
of  good  letters,  and  are  without  the  guide-book 
taint.  They  were  intended,  as  the  author  stated 
in  the  preface  to  "The  Storied  Sea,"  for  pa- 
tient, gentle  souls  seeking  rest  "  from  that  weari- 
ness known  in  our  dear  native  land  as  mental 
culture."  Mrs.  Wallace  shares  her  husband's 
liking  for  Eastern  subjects,  and  her  Egyptian 
and  Turkish  papers,  in  particular,  are  delightful 
reading. 

II.    Maurice  Thompson 

No  other  Indianian  has  lived  so  faithfully  as 
Maurice  Thompson  a  life  devoted  to  literary 
ideals,  and  none  of  his  contemporaries  among 
writers  of  the  West  and  South  has  been  more 
loyally  devoted  to  pure  belles-lettres  than  he. 
Abstract  beauty  has  appealed  to  him  more 
strongly  than  to  any  other  writer  of  the  Indiana 
group,  and  he  has  expressed  it  in  his  poems, 
through  media  suggested  by  his  own  environ- 
ment, with  charm  and  grace.  He  is  a  native 
of  Indiana,  having  been  born  at  Fairfield,  near 
Brookville,  September  9,  1844.  His  father  was 
of  Scotch-Irish  ancestry  ;  his  maternal  grand- 


2OO  THE   HOOSIERS 

father  was  of  Dutch  origin ;  and  both  lines 
were  represented  in  the  Southwestern  migra- 
tion at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  In 
Maurice's  childhood  his  father,  who  was  a 
Baptist  clergyman,  made  several  changes  of 
residence,  all  tending  southward,  removing  first 
to  southeastern  Missouri,  then  to  Kentucky, 
and  again  within  a  few  years  to  the  valley  of 
the  Coosawattee  in  northern  Georgia.  Here 
the  senior  Thompson  became  a  planter,  and 
Maurice  enjoyed  thereafter,  until  he  reached 
manhood,  a  life  in  which  the  study  of  books 
was  ideally  blended  with  the  freedom  of  the 
country.  He  has  always  expressed  great  obliga- 
tions to  his  mother's  influences  during  these 
years;  her  literary  tastes  were  sound,  and 
she  imparted  to  her  children  the  love  of  good 
books,  overcoming  by  her  own  encouragement 
and  guidance  the  absence  of  schools  in  their 
neighborhood.  Tutors  were  procured  for 
higher  mathematics  and  the  languages ;  but 
the  chief  impulse  to  the  study  of  the  old  litera- 
tures lay  in  the  youth's  own  taste  and  tem- 
perament. Like  Lanier,  Hayne,  Esten  Cooke. 
John  B.  Tabb,  and  others  who  were  to  become 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  2OI 

known  in  literature,  he  entered  the  Confederate 
army  (1862),  and  saw  hard  service  until  the 
surrender.  Even  these  years  of  soldier  expe- 
rience did  not  interrupt  wholly  his  studies,  for  he 
usually  managed  to  carry  with  him  some  book 
worth  reading,  the  essays  of  De  Quincey  and 
Carlyle  belonging  to  this  period.  Mr.  Thomp- 
son returned  to  his  father's  plantation  at  the 
close  of  the  war,  and  remained  there  for  three 
years,  continuing  his  studies  as  before,  but  sub- 
stituting hard  manual  labor  for  the  life  of  pleas- 
ant adventure  by  field  and  flood  that  had  given 
him  from  boyhood  into  early  manhood  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  wild  things.  He 
now  began,  of  necessity,  to  accommodate  him- 
self to  the  changed  conditions  of  the  community 
and  of  his  own  family.  He  had  studied  engi- 
neering, and  he  perfected  himself  in  it,  and  read 
law.  Reconstruction  moved  forward  slowly, 
and  wishing  to  get  as  quickly  as  possible  into 
a  region  where  his  material  prospects  could 
be  improved,  he  went  to  Crawfordsville,  without 
fixed  purpose,  and  found  employment  with  a 
railway  surveying  party.  He  supported  himself 
by  engineering  until  he  felt  justified  in  taking 


2O2  THE   HOOSIERS 

up  the  law,  in  which  he  was  successful,  and  to 
which  he  was  constant  until  the  increase  of 
literary  reputation  and  steady  employment  in 
more  congenial  labor  made  it  possible  for  him 
to  abandon  it.  His  marriage  to  a  daughter  of 
John  Lee,  an  influential  citizen  of  the  county, 
fixed  him  as  a  resident  of  Crawfordsville,  which 
has  since  remained  his  home.  For  a  number 
of  years  he  was  prominent  in  local  politics. 
He  sat  once  in  the  State  legislature,  and  he  was 
appointed  State  geologist  in  1885. 

Mr.  Thompson  had  written  experimentally  in 
boyhood,  and  after  his  removal  to  Indiana  he 
continued  the  cultivation  of  his  gifts,  and  begin- 
ning slowly,  attained  to  an  abundant  produc- 
tion, in  both  prose  and  poetry,  that  made  him 
through  many  years  the  Western  author  whose 
name  most  frequently  occurred  in  the  indices  of 
the  best  magazines.  During  his  youth  in  the 
Cherokee  country  he  had  been  initiated  into  the 
mysteries  of  archery  by  a  hermit  who  lived  in 
the  midst  of  a  pine  forest  near  his  home.  Mr. 
Thompson  and  his  brother,  Will  H.  Thompson, 
were  both  enthusiastic  archers  and  hunters,  and 
their  adventures  in  the  wilds  of  Florida  were  full 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  2O3 

of  romantic  interest.  The  bow  was  with  them 
a  kind  of  protest  against  the  shot-gun,  and 
assured  a  less  murderous  extirpation  of  game. 
Their  own  skill  with  the  primitive  weapon  was 
remarkable,  and  as  a  recurrence  of  interest  in 
the  bow  in  this  country  is  not  imminent,  they 
may  be  considered  the  last  of  American  archers. 
Proficiency  in  this  sport  and  the  acquaintance 
with  woodcraft  to  which  it  led  were  important 
influences  in  Mr.  Thompson's  first  literary 
work.  In  the  seventies,  a  great  revival  in 
archery  swept  the  country,  and  this  was  wholly 
due  to  a  series  of  articles  on  archery  and  on 
hunting  with  the  long  bow  which  Mr.  Thomp- 
son printed  in  the  periodicals.  These  papers 
were  gathered  into  a  book  (1878),  and  although 
he  had  published  three  years  before  a  volume 
of  sketches  called  "  Hoosier  Mosaics,"  his 
writings  on  this  subject,  with  the  attractive 
title  "  The  Witchery  of  Archery,"  gave  him  his 
first  footing  as  an  author.  The  long  bow  has 
again  fallen  into  disuse,  but  the  freshness  and 
zest  of  those  sketches  have  not  passed  away. 
However,  the  archer  had  found  in  his  wood- 
lands more  important  material  than  he  had  yet 


2O4  THE   HOOSIERS 

made  use  of ;  for  while  he  was  following  Robin 
Hood,  he  was  also  the  servant  of  Theocritus 
and  Meleager,  and  he  wrote  at  this  period  many 
lyrics  that  suggested,  by  their  spirit  at  least, 
the  Greek  pastoral  poetry  more  than  anything  in 
English.  They  were  published  under  the  de- 
scriptive title  "  Songs  of  Fair  Weather  "  (1883), 
and  are  included  also  in  a  larger  volume  of 
Mr.  Thompson's  verse,  "Poems"  (1892).  E. 
S.  Nadal  writes l  that  he  has  never  known  any 
scenery  so  classical  as  the  glades  which  border 
the  forests  of  Ohio  and  Indiana.  In  fancy,  he 
is  able  to  people  them  with  figures  of  mythology, 
and  in  no  other  spots,  he  says,  has  his  imagi- 
nation been  equal  to  this  task.  It  is  pleasant  to 
find  this  comment  running  into  a  reference  to 
Mr.  Thompson :  "  When  I  was  the  literary 
reviewer  of  a  New  York  daily,"  says  Mr.  Nadal, 
"  I  was  always  on  the  lookout  for  the  verses 
of  a  young  poet  who  lived  in  this  part  of  the 
world.  I  remember  that  one  of  his  poems 
related  how  that  once  when  Diana  was  at  her 
bath  in  some  clear  spring,  no  doubt  known  to 
the  poet,  a  sort  of  sublimated  Hoosier  of  the 

1  "  Essays  at  Home  and  Elsewhere,"  p.  211. 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  2O5 

fancy,  himself  quite  nude  and  classic,  passed 
near  by.  He  quickly,  however,  ran  away  far 
through  the  green  thick  groves  of  May,  — 

" '  Afeard  lest  down  the  wind  of  Spring 
He'd  hear  an  arrow  whispering.'  " 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  the  Indiana  land- 
scape to  be  found  through  Mr.  Thompson's 
poems,  though  he  often  looks  southward  to 
the  north  Georgia  hills  and  to  Florida.  Ser- 
vile descriptions  he  does  not  give,  but  against 
backgrounds  traced  with  great  delicacy  and 
beauty  he  throws  suddenly  and  for  a  moment 
only  some  fleeting  spirit  of  the  woodland. 
There  is  in  his  language  "  the  continual  slight 
novelty"  which  is  indispensable  in  poetry  that 
is  to  haunt  and  taunt  the  memory.  As  an  in- 
stance of  his  felicity  a  poem  called  "Before 
Dawn  "  may  be  cited :  — 

u  A  keen,  insistent  hint  of  dawn 

Fell  from  the  mountain  height ; 
A  wan,  uncertain  gleam  betrayed 
The  faltering  of  the  night. 

"  The  emphasis  of  silence  made 

The  fog  above  the  brook 
Intensely  pale ;  the  trees  took  on 
A  haunted,  haggard  look. 


206  THE  HOOSIERS 

"  Such  quiet  came,  expectancy 

Filled  all  the  earth  and  sky : 
Time  seemed  to  pause  a  little  space ; 
I  heard  a  dream  go  by ! " 

Such  subjects  he  always  handles  finely,  leav- 
ing the  thought  in  a  spell  of  mild  wonder  and 
awe,  as  if  something  beautiful  had  passed  and 
vanished.  Similar  effects  were  often  possible 
with  him  in  his  younger  days ;  and  it  is  a 
question  whether  the  moods  from  which  such 
work  proceeds  recur  after  youth,  the  dream, 
has  departed  and  taken  that  from  the  heart 
which  "never  comes  again."  Those  early 
pieces  could  not  have  been  written  by  an  in- 
doors man ;  there  is  a  refreshing  quality  of 
the  open  air  in  every  line  of  them.  The  note 
is  unusual,  and  is  perhaps  best  sounded  rarely ; 
lightness  and  deftness  are  necessary  to  him 
who  would  evoke  its  entire  purity  and  melody. 
In  "The  Death  of  the  White  Heron,"  "A 
Plight  Shot,"  "Diana,"  "The  Fawn,"  and  "In 
the  Haunts  of  Bass  and  Bream,"  he  trusted 
his  fortunes  to  rhymed  couplets  of  .eight  syl- 
lables, which  are  particularly  well  adapted  to 
his  purposes.  The  last-named  poem  relates 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  2O? 

with  tantalizing  deliberation  the  taking  of  a 
bass;  the  life  of  the  stream  pending  the  cap- 
ture is  described  in  musical,  transitional  pas- 
sages to  the  refrain,  — 

"  Bubble,  bubble,  flows  the  stream, 
Like  low  music  through  a  dream." 

He  again  employs  couplets  in  one  of  the 
most  appealing  of  all  this  series,  "  In  Exile," 
which  is  the  prayer  of  an  archer  of  the  new 
world  that  England,  the  mother  of  archers, 
will  call  him  home.  Later  Mr.  Thompson 
essayed  a  number  of  poems  in  a  flexible  ode 
form,  showing  a  broadening  of  his  powers  and 
a  widening  of  his  personal  horizons.  The 
flight  in  such  pieces  as  "  In  Captivity "  and 
"Before  Sunrise"  is  longer  than  in  the  ear- 
lier poems.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  find  a  poet 
to  whom  America  is  so  satisfactory  as  a  field 
that  he  dares  to  set  up  the  mocking-bird 
against  the  nightingale.  Mr.  Thompson  makes 
the  home-songster  a  medium  for  communicating 
the  spirit  and  significance  of  our  democracy  to 
our  friends  overseas.  The  movement  through 
all  these  poems  is  free  and  vigorous,  and  the 
irregular  lines  please  by  the  happy  chance  of 


208  THE  HOOSIERS 

the  rhymes.  The  pleasant  winds  of  which  the 
poet  writes  so  refreshingly  creep  often  into  his 
measures.  Patriotic  subjects  he  touches  with 
nobility  and  fervor ;  and  he  became  the  lau- 
reate of  reconstruction  when  he  penned  his 
ringing  poem  "To  the  South,"  the  conclusion 
of  which  must  not  be  omitted  here :  — 

"  I  am  a  Southerner ; 
I  love  the  South  ;  I  dared  for  her 
To  fight  from  Lookout  to  the  Sea, 
With  her  proud  banner  over  me. 
But  from  my  lips  thanksgiving  broke 
As  God  in  battle  thunder  spoke, 
And  that  Black  Idol,  breeding  drouth 
And  dearth  of  human  sympathy 
Throughout  the  sweet  and  sensuous  South, 
Was,  with  its  chains  and  human  yoke, 
Blown  hellward  from  the  cannon's  mouth, 
While  Freedom  cheered  behind  the  smoke  ! " 

Again,  when  invited  to  read  a  poem  before 
the  Phi  Beta  Kappa,  of  Harvard,  in  1893,  he 
chose  for  his  subject  "  Lincoln's  Grave,"  ex- 
pressing, with  greater  care,  similar  feelings  of 
loyalty,  and  recounting  Lincoln's  high  qualities 
with  eloquent  appreciation. 

Mr.  Thompson  has  published  a  number  of 
novels:  "A  Tallahassee  Girl"  (1882);  "His 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  2O9 

Second  Campaign"  (1882);  "At  Love's  Ex- 
tremes" (1885);  "A  Banker  of  Bankersville  " 
(1886);  "A  Fortnight  of  Folly"  (1888);  and 
"Stories  of  the  Cherokee  Hills"  (1899),  a 
volume  of  short  tales  reminiscent  of  slave  days 
and  the  author's  boyhood.  "A  Tallahassee 
Girl "  is  a  graceful  and  pretty  story,  the  scene  of 
which  is  laid  at  the  South,  as  is  true  also  of  the 
two  tales  that  immediately  followed  it.  They 
convey  distinct  impressions  of  phases  of  South- 
ern life  in  the  early  post-bellum  period,  and 
abound  in  romantic  color.  "  Alice  of  Old  Vin- 
cennes "  (1900),  is  a  captivating  tale  of  the 
French  period  of  Indiana  history,  closing  with 
the  surrender  of  Vincennes  to  Clark.  The 
heroine  is  delightful,  and  Father  Beret  is  a 
character  worthy  of  Dumas.  The  book  shows 
in  all  ways  a  marked  advance  over  any  previous 
prose  work  of  this  author.  He  has  also  written 
"The  Boys'  Book  of  Sports"  (1886);  and 
"  Louisiana  "  (1888),  in  the  Stories  of  the  States 
series,  and  "The  Ocala  Boy"  (1885),  all  for 
juvenile  readers.  He  has  written  many  essays 
in  which  some  phase  of  literature  has  been 
observed  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  nature- 


2IO  THE  HOOSIERS 

lover;  and  his  touch  in  such  instances  is 
always  light  and  his  matter  bright  and  stimu- 
lating. Two  volumes  of  such  papers  have 
been  collected,  "By-ways  and  Bird  Notes" 
(1885)  and  "Sylvan  Secrets"  (1887).  The 
scientist  and  the  litterateur  meet  in  his  dis- 
cussions of  the  mind  and  memory  of  birds,  and 
the  anatomy  of  bird-song;  and  his  essay  on 
Shakespeare,  written  within  sound  of  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  songs 
of  mocking-birds,  is  wholly  characteristic  of 
his  independence  in  literary  matters.  He  has 
been  one  of  the  most  courageous  champions 
of  the  romantic  as  against  the  analytic  and 
realistic.  He  delivered  at  the  Hartford  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  in  1883,  a  series  of  lectures 
dealing  comprehensively  with  the  question  of 
morality  in  literature,  and  he  embodied  these 
in  a  volume,  "The  Ethics  of  Literary  Art" 
(1883).  Mr.  Thompson  became,  in  1889,  liter- 
ary editor  of  the  New  York  Independent,  re- 
serving, however,  the  privilege  of  continuing 
his  residence  at  Crawfordsville.  His  home, 
"Sherwood  Place,"  is  on  a  quiet  margin 
of  the  town,  and  the  house  has  stoojd  for 


CRAWFORDSVILLE  2 1 1 

half  a  century  shielded  from  the  public  eye 
by  native  beeches  and  alien  pines.  Mr. 
Thompson's  life  is  wholly  devoted  to  study 
and  writing.  His  instincts  are  thoroughly 
scholarly,  and  in  some  directions,  as  in  Greek 
poetry  and  Old  French  literature,  where  long 
and  loving  study  have  given  him  special  knowl- 
edge, he  is  an  authority.  He  has  no  com- 
plaints of  the  world's  treatment  of  him  or  his 
work,  and  he  declares  that  his  writings  have 
been  received  with  much  more  cordiality  than 
they  have  deserved.  He  is  exceedingly  kind 
to  beginners  in  literature,  and  his  criticisms 
have  been  of  benefit  to  many  young  Western 
and  Southern  writers.  Wabash  College  con- 
ferred upon  him,  in  1900,  the  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Letters. 

His  brother,  Will  H.  Thompson,  was  born 
in  Missouri  (1846),  and  the  experiences  of  their 
youth  and  early  manhood  were  similar.  Will 
Thompson  was  a  marvellous  archer,  and  shared 
his  brother's  enthusiasm  for  hunting  with 
bow  and  arrow.  He  has  not  been,  in  recent 
years,  a  resident  of  Crawfordsville,  having 
removed  to  the  State  of  Washington,  but 


212  THE  HOOSIERS 

he  wrote  while  in  Indiana  his  "  High  Tide  at 
Gettysburg,"  one  of  the  few  poems  of  the  Civil 
War  that  has  adequately  expressed  the  spirit  of 
battle  and  the  larger  meaning  of  the  conflict. 

III.    Mary  H.  Krout — Caroline    V.  Krout 

Mary  H.  Krout,  another  Crawfordsville 
author,  has  added  to  the  distinction  of  an 
Indiana  family  in  which  an  admiral,  George 
Brown,  and  several  scholars  and  scientists 
have  appeared.  In  her  girlhood  she  wrote  the 
verses  "  Little  Brown  Hands,"  which  have  en- 
joyed a  vitality  not  always  relished  by  the 
author,  whose  later  and  longer  flights  are  bet- 
ter deserving  of  recognition.  Miss  Krout  has 
been  an  indefatigable  traveller,  and  her  books 
include  "Hawaii  and  a  Revolution"  (1898),  an 
account  of  her  personal  experiences  in  the 
Sandwich  Islands  during  the  political  crisis 
that  preceded  annexation;  also  "A  Looker-on 
in  London"  (1899),  which  describes  novel 
phases  of  English  life  freshly.  Miss  Krout 
more  recently  penetrated  to  the  interior  of 
China,  visiting  cities  remote  from  the  beaten 
track  of  travel.  Her  sister,  Caroline  V.  Krout, 


CRAWFORDSVI LLE  2 1 3 

a  classical  scholar  of  high  attainment,  has 
written,  under  the  nom  de  plume  "  Caroline 
Brown,"  "Knights  in  Fustian"  (1900),  a  novel 
of  Indiana.  The  "  knights  in  fustian "  are 
"  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,"  a  treasonable 
society  which  menaced  Indiana  during  the  Civil 
War.  The  principal  characters  are  the  fatuous 
rustics,  who  indulge  their  crude  taste  for  the 
mysterious  in  the  secret  meetings  and  sonorous 
ritual  of  the  society.  Miss  Krout  knows  the 
people  of  her  own  soil  thoroughly,  and  the 
particular  type  that  has  attracted  her  is  set 
out  in  her  pages  with  photographic  accuracy. 
The  tale  is  true  to  history  and  to  the  local 
life,  and  its  literary  excellence  places  the 
author's  name  high  on  the  roll  of  Western 
writers.  She  has  also  written  many  short 
stories  for  the  periodicals. 


CHAPTER  VII 

"OF  MAKING  MANY  BOOKS  THERE  IS  NO  END" 

THE  multiplication  of  books  by  Indianians 
increased  steadily  during  the  last  decade  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Much  of  the  production 
in  prose  is  unimportant  save  as  it  is  taken  in 
connection  with  the  general  rise  of  cultivation 
in  the  State,  and  not  a  little  derives  interest 
principally  from  the  personality  of  the  writers. 
Fiction  attracted  many  during  the  period  indi- 
cated, and  the  impulse  in  this  direction  has  been 
attended  with  notable  successes.  The  part 
played  by  Indiana  in  the  Civil  War  has  latterly 
received  attention,  and  the  newer  phases  of  vil- 
lage life  have  also  been  treated.  Local  history 
has  not,  unfortunately,  attracted  the  literary 
fledgling  in  Indiana  so  often  as  could  have  been 
desired,  though  the  field  is  inviting,  and  thorough 
work  of  this  kind  is  far  likelier  to  enjoy  per- 
manency than  fair  or  indifferent  fiction  or  medi- 
ocre verse.  Criticism  is  naturally  last  to  receive 
214 


"OF  MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  215 

attention,  and  little  critical  writing  can  be  cred- 
ited to  the  State.  It  is,  however,  remarkable 
that  so  much  good  work  is  done  in  the  several 
departments,  the  inference  being  that  where  so 
many  are  moved  to  make  experiments,  the  gen- 
eral average  of  cultivation  must  be  high. 

Indiana  has  been  a  kind  of  way  station  for 
many  who  have  gained  their  chief  distinction  else- 
where. Joaquin  Miller  and  John  James  Piatt 
were  born  in  Indiana,  but  left  in  childhood,  and 
Mary  Hartwell  Catherwood  lived  in  the  State 
for  a  number  of  years ;  but  these  writers  may 
hardly  be  numbered  among  Indiana  authors. 
James  Newton  Matthews,  an  Indianian  who 
has  lived  for  many  years  in  Illinois,  has  written 
much  good  verse,  and  is  included  in  discrimi- 
nating anthologies.  Lyman  Abbott  began  his 
ministry  in  Indiana  as  pastor  of  the  Congre- 
gational Church  at  Terre  Haute.  Both  Charles 
Warren  Stoddard  and  Maurice  Francis  Egan 
were  members  of  the  faculty  of  Notre  Dame 
University  at  different  periods.  The  Rev.  Ar- 
thur Wentworth  Eaton,  a  poet  and  writer  on 
Acadian  life,  was  once  a  resident  of  Indianapo- 
lis; and  Henry  F.  Keenan,  who  wrote  "Tra- 


2l6  THE   HOOSIERS 

jan"  and  other  novels,  edited  the  Indianapolis 
Sentinel  before  he  became  an  author.  The  Rev. 
Bernard  Harrison  Nadal  (1812-1870)  held  a 
professorship  at  Asbury  University  from  1854 
to  1857,  and  was  the  father  of  E.  S.  Nadal,  an 
essayist  whose  critical  papers  appeal  to  the 
admirers  of  a  calm  and  pensive  style  of  writing. 
Miss  Lucy  S.  Furman's  "Stories  of  a  Sancti- 
fied Town"  (1896)  were  written  at  Evansville, 
though  the  scenes  are  laid  in  Kentucky.  The 
Rev.  James  Cooley  Fletcher,  of  the  well-known 
Indiana  family  of  that  name,  is  the  author  of 
"  Brazil  and  Brazilians"  (1868);  and  his  daugh- 
ter, Julia  Constance,  wrote,  under  the  pen- 
name  "  George  Fleming,"  the  novels  "  Kismet " 
(1877);  "Mirage"  (1878);  "The  Head  of 
Medusa  "(1880);  "Vestigia"  (1884);  and  "  An- 
dromeda" (1885).  Both  have  long  been  absent 
from  the  State,  Mr.  Fletcher  in  California  and 
his  daughter  in  Italy. 


"OF   MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  2 \J 

I.    Fiction 

Booth  Tarkington  stands  with  Mr.  Riley  as 
the  exponent  of  a  Hoosier  who  is  kindly,  gen- 
erous, humorous,  and  essentially  domestic.  His 
novel,  "A  Gentleman  from  Indiana"  (1899), 
depicts  the  semi-urban  type  that  Mr.  Riley  so 
often  celebrates  in  verse.  Whitecapping  as  in- 
troduced in  this  story  is  only  the  coarse  exploit 
of  a  vicious  colony  living  on  the  outskirts  of  the 
town  in  which  Mr.  Tarkington's  tale  has  its 
habitation.  The  author  plainly  states  that  his 
whitecaps  are  not  to  be  confounded  with  vigi- 
lance committees  that  undertake  to  reform  the 
morals  of  individuals,  but  that  they  are  rowdies 
who  masquerade  as  whitecaps  merely  for  pur- 
poses of  private  mischief  and  vengeance.  Their 
settlement  resembles  in  some  degree  the  "  tough 
neighborhood  "  often  found  in  cities.  The  hos- 
tility between  the  people  of  Plattville  and  the 
Cross  Roads  element  dates  back  to  the  first 
movement  of  population  on  the  long  trail  from 
North  Carolina  into  the  Ohio  Valley.  The  Cross 
Roads  folk  had  been  evil  and  worthless  in  their 
early  homes,  and  they  carried  their  worst  traits 


218  THE   HOOSIERS 

with  them  into  Indiana.  Mr.  Tarkington  has 
followed  accurately  the  social  history  of  the 
good  stock  and  the  bad,  illustrating  the  antipa- 
thy existing  between  the  prosperous  and  intelli- 
gent and  the  idle  and  ignorant.  The  distinction 
of  Plattville  as  a  county  seat  of  the  central 
West  is  well  established,  and  its  indolence, 
amiability,  and  pride  are  characteristic.  The 
hero  is  a  new  type  of  Hoosier,  who  has  little 
kinship  with  the  earlier  people  of  Eggleston,  or 
with  the  Hoosier  as  Riley  reports  him ;  he  is  a 
native,  but  has  experienced  at  an  Eastern  col- 
lege an  intellectual  change  "  into  something  rich 
and  strange,"  and  after  long  absence  becomes 
a  pilgrim  of  light  among  his  own  people. 

Mr.  Tarkington  has  a  perfect  appreciation  of 
the  strength  of  local  affection  in  the  Hoosier, 
and  also  of  the  thoroughly  American  absorp- 
tion in  politics  which  seems  to  be  more  marked 
in  county  seats  of  a  few  thousand  inhabitants 
than  in  large  cities.  History  in  towns  like 
Plattville  is  not  dated,  anno  urbis  conditce,  but 
from  a  political  incident  or  the  visit  of  a 
President ;  and  a  national  campaign  is  a  quad- 
rennial blessing  that  renews  in  the  obscurest 


"OF  MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  2IQ 

inhabitant  the  sense  of  his  individual  respon- 
sibility to  the  government.  Mr.  Tarkington 
emphasizes  the  homogeneity  of  the  Middle 
Western  folk;  and  this  is  warranted  fully  by 
the  statisticians.  The  people  of  his  town  live 
together  like  a  great,  kind  family,  who  are  suffi- 
cient unto  themselves.  He  has  thrown  into 
the  story  the  sincerity,  affection,  and  loyalty 
that  are  their  attributes ;  and  he  adds,  more- 
over, the  atmosphere  of  the  Indiana  land- 
scape, with  a  nice  appreciation  of  its  loveliness, 
sometimes  hinted  and  often  charmingly  ex- 
pressed. There  is  a  crisp,  bracing  quality  in 
the  writing  that  fitly  accompanies  the  story, 
which  is,  taken  all  in  all,  one  of  the  most 
creditable  novels  yet  written  of  life  in  the 
Ohio  Valley.  There  is  every  reason  why 
Mr.  Tarkington  should  know  his  Indiana  well, 
as  his  family  has  been  prominent  in  the  State 
for  three  generations,  and  he  is  a  native,  hav- 
ing been  born  at  Indianapolis  (1869).  He 
was  educated  at  Purdue  and  Princeton,  receiv- 
ing from  the  latter  the  degree  of  A.M.  in 
1898.  He  has  also  written  (1900)  "  Monsieur 
Beaucaire,"  a  dramatic  novelette  of  the  eigh- 


220  THE   HOOSIERS 

teenth  century,  in  which  a  few  striking  incidents 
are  handled  most  effectively.  The  story  has 
the  charm  of  an  exquisite  miniature. 

Indiana  village  life  has  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  careful  study  by  Anna  Nicholas,  in  a 
series  of  short  stories  collected  under  the  title 
"An  Idyl  of  the  Wabash "  (1899).  Religious 
phenomena  have  greatly  attracted  Miss  Nich- 
olas, and  she  has  supplemented  Dr.  Eggle- 
ston's  studies  of  an  earlier  period  with  her 
artistic  sketches  of  contemporary  life.  The 
social  importance  of  the  church,  the  vagaries 
of  belief  in  a  typical  Western  village,  and  the 
intensity  of  the  "revival"  spirit  are  treated 
with  sympathy  and  humor.  Several  of  these 
tales  are,  between  the  lines,  a  tribute  to  that 
vigorous  Protestant  evangelization  of  Indiana, 
which  triumphed  over  mud  and  malaria  and 
carried  the  gospel  far  beyond  the  sound  of 
church  bells.  Miss  Nicholas  has  written  with 
keen  penetration  of  the  suppressed  tragic 
element  in  rural  life,  but  without  morbidity. 
Her  characters  are  always  inevitably  related 
to  the  incidents,  and  she  communicates  with 
unfailing  success  a  sense  of  the  humble  atmos- 


"OF   MAKING    MANY  BOOKS"  221 

phere  of  her  farm  and  village.  These  stories 
are  distinguished  by  the  evident  sincerity  of 
their  purpose  to  reflect  life  honestly,  and  they 
are  written  in  a  straightforward  manner  that 
aids  the  impression.  They  illustrate  anew  the 
possibilities  of  a  local  literature  that  follows 
progressively  the  formative  years  of  a  com- 
munity's life.  It  is  even  now  difficult  to  per- 
suade the  present  generations  of  Indianians 
that  Dr.  Eggleston's  Hoosiers  ever  lived ;  and 
Miss  Nicholas,  Mr.  Riley,  and  Mr.  Tarkington 
have  continued  the  story  that  was  begun  by 
their  predecessor,  adding  chapters  equally  in- 
structive and  valuable. 

Mary  Jameson  Judah's  "  Down  Our  Way " 
(1897)  is  not  limited  to  a  particular  region,  but 
combines  with  studies  of  the  author's  own 
Indiana,  sketches  of  social  life  at  the  South. 
The  allurements  of  those  organizations  for 
individual  improvement  and  general  reform 
that  have  enlisted  the  energies  of  so  many 
women  in  recent  years  have  appealed  to  Mrs. 
Judah's  sense  of  humor;  and  her  stories  show 
a  fine  appreciation  of  the  niceties  of  social 
perspective  and  proportion  in  Southern  and 


222  THE   HOOSIERS 

Western  cities.  The  short  story  is  happily 
adapted  to  the  need  of  the  casual  observer  of 
local  life,  and  tales  like  these,  which  bear  the 
stamp  of  fidelity,  have  an  inestimable  value  for 
future  students. 

An  increasing  attention  to  local  historical 
matters  has  lately  been  marked,  and  an  ex- 
cellent instance  of  this  is  afforded  by  Millard 
Cox  ("  Henry  Scott  Clark ")  in  "  The  Legion- 
aries "  (1899),  a  story  of  the  Morgan  raid 
into  Indiana.  The  political  and  social  condi- 
tions on  the  Indiana-Kentucky  border  during 
the  Civil  War  were  interesting,  and  worthy 
of  the  study  that  has  been  given  to  them  in 
this  novel.  The  military  episode  of  which 
Morgan  was  the  chief  figure,  though  slight 
in  comparison  with  the  larger  movements  of 
the  war,  was  dramatic  and  daring,  and  it  lends 
itself  well  to  this  romantic  setting.  Mr.  Cox 
is  a  native  Indianian  (1856). 

James  A.  Wickersham,  an  Indiana  educa- 
tor, has  analyzed  certain  religious  conditions 
minutely  in  "  Enoch  Willoughby "  (1900). 
This  is  a  novel  of  character  rather  than  of 
incident,  and  marks  still  another  departure  in 


«OF   MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  223 

method  among  writers  of  the  Indiana  group. 
The  tale  is  not  wholly  indigenous,  as  the  char- 
acters belong  as  truly  to  one  State  as  to  another 
of  the  Middle  West.  The  Willoughbys  are 
studied  as  a  family  in  which  peculiarities 
have  always  been  observed,  and  in  Enoch 
an  hereditary  "  queerness "  is  manifested  in 
religious  idiosyncrasies. 

The  revival  of  interest  in  romantic  fiction, 
that  marked  the  closing  years  of  the  century, 
witnessed  the  unusual  successes  of  a  number 
of  novels  by  American  authors.  One  of  the 
most  popular  romances  of  this  period  is  "  When 
Knighthood  was  in  Flower"  (1898),  by  Charles 
Major,  a  native  of  Indianapolis  (1856),  who  is 
living  at  Shelbyville,  twenty  miles  distant  from 
the  capital.  Mr.  Major  served  no  apprentice- 
ship as  an  author;  this  romance  was  his  first 
book.  He  was  educated  in  the  Indiana  public 
schools  and  at  the  University  of  Michigan, 
and  was  actively  engaged  in  the  practice  of 
law  when  he  wrote  the  novel,  as  a  diversion,  on 
his  Sunday  afternoons  at  home.  The  friendli- 
ness of  the  English-reading  public  to  this  tale 
is  not  difficult  to  understand.  It  is  a  love  story 


224  THE   HOOSIERS 

whose  chief  characters,  Charles  Brandon  and 
Mary  Tudor,  possess  those  qualities  of  youth, 
vivacity,  and  spirit  that  so  inevitably  win  the 
heart  in  fiction  or  the  drama.  The  tale  is 
told  by  Sir  Edwin  Caskoden,  a  master  of  the 
dance  at  the  court  of  Henry  VIII. ,  and  not  by 
the  author  direct,  —  a  familiar  trick  of  the  his- 
torical novelist ;  and  it  serves  an  excellent  pur- 
pose, affording  a  valid  excuse  for  the  ostensible 
editor  to  render  the  sixteenth-century  narra- 
tive of  Caskoden  into  racy  nineteenth-century 
English.  This  novel  is  one  of  the  noteworthy 
achievements  of  Indianians  in  the  field  of 
romance,  suggesting  again  what  has  been  so 
true  of  General  Wallace,  —  that  the  imagination 
is  superior  to  all  laws,  and  that  the  romantic 
vision  easily  pierces  barriers  of  circumstance. 
George  Cary  Eggleston,  a  brother  of  Edward, 
was  born  at  Vevay  (1839),  received  his  prelim- 
inary education  in  the  schools  of  Vevay  and 
Madison,  and  attended  Asbury  University,  but 
did  not  complete  his  course  there.  When  still 
under  seventeen  he  took  charge  of  a  school  in 
a  wild  district  of  the  State,  but  at  the  end  of 
his  engagement  he  went  to  Virginia  to  the  old 


"OF   MAKING  MANY   BOOKS"  225 

homestead  of  his  father's  family,  completed  his 
college  course,  studied  law,  and  served  in  the 
Confederate  army.  He  has  for  many  years 
been  a  well-known  New  York  journalist,  and  he 
is  the  author  of  many  books.  He  has  always 
maintained  relations  with  his  native  State,  and 
has  utilized  his  knowledge  of  it  in  his  writings. 
In  his  novel  "A  Man  of  Honor"  (1873),  the 
hero  is  an  Indiana  boy,  the  son  of  a  Kentucky 
mother  and  a  Virginia  father,  as  was  the  case 
with  Mr.  Eggleston  himself.  Another  novel, 
"Juggernaut"  (1891),  opens  in  Indiana.  A 
Hoosier  boy  is  the  hero,  and  the  description  of 
his  early  life  among  the  hills  of  southern  Indi- 
ana is  pleasantly  reminiscent  of  the  author's 
own  experiences.  In  a  number  of  juvenile 
stories,  among  them  being  "  The  Last  of  the 
Flat-boats"  (1900),  Mr.  Eggleston  has  drawn 
upon  his  recollections  of  Hoosierdom,  and  there 
is,  he  says,  something  of  Indiana  in  everything 
that  he  has  written.  Before  Mr.  Eggleston  had 
seriously  begun  literary  work  the  name  of  his 
brother  Edward  was  so  identified  with  Hoosier 
soil  that  the  younger  man  could  hardly  invade 
it  with  literary  intent  without  risking  the  charge 
Q 


226  THE   HOOSIERS 

of  imitation ;  yet  it  is  significant  of  the  tenacity 
of  his  early  impressions  that  throughout  his 
life  the  scenes  of  his  childhood  and  youth  have 
continued  to  invite  his  imagination. 

II.     History  and  Politics 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  include  George  W.  Julian 
(1817-1899)  among  those  who  have  added  lus- 
tre to  Indiana's  name.  He  was  born  at  Center- 
ville,  Wayne  County,  of  Quaker  parents  who 
had  followed  the  familiar  line  of  march  from 
North  Carolina  to  Indiana.  He  worked  in  the 
fields,  studied  by  the  light  of  the  fireplace,  taught 
school,  read  law,  and  in  general  experienced  those 
vicissitudes  and  embarrassments  that  beset  so 
many  ambitious  American  youths  of  his  genera- 
tion. The  law  was  a  stepping-stone  to  politics, 
and  from  1840  until  the  last  years  of  his  long 
life  he  was  constantly  an  eager  observer  of 
political  movements  when  not  an  active  par- 
ticipant in  campaigns.  He  was  a  founder  and 
leader  of  the  Free-soil  party,  and  was  its  candi- 
date for  the  vice-presidency  on  the  ticket  headed 
by  John  P.  Hale  in  1852.  He  was  repeatedly 
elected  a  representative  in  Congress,  first  as  a 


"OF  MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  22/ 

Free-soil  candidate,  and  thereafter  as  a  Republi- 
can, from  what  was  known  as  "the  burnt  dis- 
trict" in  eastern  Indiana,  serving  through  the 
Civil  War.  He  was  a  vigorous  opponent  of 
slavery,  and  his  "Speeches  on  Political  Subjects" 
(1872),  for  which  Lydia  Maria  Child  wrote  an 
introduction,  is  a  record  of  his  radical  opposi- 
tion that  began  in  1850  and  continued  to  the 
close  of  the  rebellion.  His  integrity  of  opinion 
was  unimpeachable.  He  was  a  laborious  student, 
and,  although  without  the  graces  of  oratory,  he 
was  an  impressive  and  effective  speaker.  He 
shared  the  ignominy  that  was  visited  upon  Love- 
joy,  Phillips,  Giddings,  and  others  of  the  early 
antislavery  phalanx,  and  his  Congressional  cam- 
paigns were  marked  by  bitter  and  violent  abuse 
from  his  opponents.  His  powers  of  invec- 
tive made  him  a  formidable  antagonist.  When 
his  severity  was  criticised,  he  would  say  that 
"there  is  nothing  in  my  speech  but  the  truth 
that  hurts."  He  was  essentially  a  reformer  and 
an  independent,  and  broke  fearlessly  with  his 
party  when  he  could  not  conscientiously  follow 
it.  Thus  he  joined  in  the  Liberal  Republican 
movement,  and  supported  Greeley.  He  then 


228  THE   HOOSIERS 

became,  and  remained  to  the  end  of  his  life,  a 
Democrat,  and  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Cleveland 
surveyor-general  of  New  Mexico.  He  made 
his  home  for  thirty  years  at  Irvington,  a  suburb 
of  Indianapolis  and  the  seat  of  Butler  College, 
where  he  was  the  village  Nestor.  He  delighted 
in  literature,  lived  among  books,  contributed 
often  to  the  periodical  press,  and  wrote  (1892) 
the  "  Life  of  Joshua  R.  Giddings." 

Civic  interests  have  marked  also  the  career 
of  William  Dudley  Foulke,  who  was  born  in 
New  York  City  (1848)  and  educated  at  Co- 
lumbia College,  being  graduated  in  1869.  Mr. 
Foulke's  antecedents  were  Quakers,  and  he 
removed,  in  1876,  to  Wayne  County,  one  of  the 
principal  centres  of  the  Society  of  Friends 
in  Indiana.  Mr.  Foulke  practised  law  and  sat 
in  the  State  senate  (1883-1885)  as  a  Repub- 
lican, but  became  an  independent  upon  the 
nomination  of  Mr.  Blaine,  and  thereafter  gave 
his  attention  to  various  political  reforms,  nota- 
bly in  the  civil  service,  conducting  investiga- 
tions and  frequently  delivering  addresses.  He 
published  (1887)  "Slav  and  Saxon,"  an  essay 
on  the  future  of  the  two  races  which  are, 


"OF   MAKING   MANY  BOOKS"  22Q 

in  his  belief,  to  contend  finally  for  suprem- 
acy in  the  world.  He  gave  many  years  to 
the  study  of  the  war  period  in  Indiana,  with 
a  view  to  writing  the  life  of  Oliver  P.  Morton, 
Indiana's  "War  Governor,"  who  had  been  a 
citizen  of  Wayne  County ;  and  this  biography 
(1899)  is  not  only  a  thorough  study  of  Mor- 
ton's public  services,  but  of  the  period  to 
which  he  belonged  as  well. 

Early  associated  with  Mr.  Foulke  in  civil 
service  reform  work  in  Indiana  was  Oliver  T. 
Morton  (1860-1898),  the  son  of  Governor  Mor- 
ton, who  was  born  in  Wayne  County  and  edu- 
cated at  Yale  and  Oxford.  His  volume  of 
essays,  "The  Southern  Empire"  (1892),  con- 
tains, besides  the  title  paper,  an  historical  es- 
say on  Oxford  and  an  excellent  discussion  of 
civil  service  reform.  The  opening  essay  is  a 
most  suggestive  presentation  of  the  slavehold- 
ers' ambitions  to  found  a  vast  tropical  slave 
empire.  It  is  of  interest  to  read  this,  in  the 
light  of  the  senior  Morton's  herculean  efforts 
against  slavery ;  but  that  one  generation  may 
easily  differ  from  another  is  proved  by  the 
concluding  essay  in  advocacy  of  the  merit  sys- 


230  THE   HOOSIERS 

tern,  which  found  few  friends  in  the  period 
of  which  Senator  Morton  was  a  dominating 
figure. 

Mr.  Foulke's  brother-in-law,  Arthur  Middle- 
ton  Reeves  (1856-1891),  found  employment 
for  his  scholarly  tastes  in  unusual  channels. 
After  his  graduation  from  Cornell  (1878),  he 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  Icelandic  lan- 
guage and  lore,  in  which  his  interest  had  been 
aroused  by  Professor  Willard  Fiske;  and  he 
subsequently  continued  his  studies  abroad  in 
Europe  and  Iceland.  He  was  an  industrious 
and  painstaking  student,  with  a  passion  for 
accuracy,  and  the  volume  of  his  letters  col- 
lected and  published  for  his  friends  shows 
him  to  have  possessed  unusually  varied  tal- 
ents. He  wrote  "The  Finding  of  Wineland 
the  Good :  The  History  of  the  Icelandic  Dis- 
covery of  America"  (1890);  "Lad  and  Lass: 
Story  of  Life  in  Iceland"  (1890);  "Jan:  A  Short 
Story"  (1892);  and  he  had  begun,  with  Dr. 
Valtyr  Gudmundsson  of  Copenhagen,  a  trans- 
lation of  the  Laxdcela  Saga  when,  on  the 
occasion  of  a  visit  to  his  home  in  Indiana, 
he  was  killed  in  a  railway  accident. 


"OF   MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  231 

The  first  Indiana  historian  was  John  B. 
Dillon,  who  was  born  at  Wellsburg,  West  Vir- 
ginia (1808),  learned  the  printer's  trade,  and 
removed  to  Indiana  in  1834.  While  resi- 
dent at  Logansport  he  studied  law  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar ;  but  his  quiet,  studious 
habits  and  natural  reserve  unfitted  him  for 
the  practice,  and  he  never  tested  his  powers. 
He  turned,  fortunately,  to  the  study  of  Indi- 
ana's history;  and  appreciating  the  importance 
of  assembling  data  before  the  death  of  wit- 
nesses and  participants,  began  collecting  ma- 
terial, and  published  (1859)  a  "  History  of 
Indiana,"  covering  the  period  from  the  first 
explorations  to  1856.  This  work  represents 
many  years  of  laborious  research  in  a  field 
that  was  practically  untouched.  It  is  the 
point  of  departure  for  all  who  study  Indiana 
history,  and  it  is  as  exact  as  diligent  care 
could  make  it.  Dillon  published  "  Notes  on 
Historical  Evidence  in  Reference  to  Adverse 
Theories  of  the  Origin  and  Nature  of  the 
Government  of  the  United  States"  (1871);  and 
at  his  death  left  the  manuscript  of  a  work 
called  "  Oddities  of  Colonial  Legislation." 


232  THE   HOOSIERS 

He  received  a  number  of  minor  appointments 
under  the  Federal  government,  residing  at 
Washington  from  1863  to  1875.  He  returned 
to  Indianapolis  at  the  termination  of  these 
employments  and  died  there,  in  1879.  He 
was  gentle,  patient,  modest,  and  industrious, 
a  man  of  merit,  faithful  in  all  things.  He 
never  married,  and  had  no  interests  save  those 
of  the  student.  His  proper  place  was  in  the 
quiet  alcoves  of  libraries ;  and  it  must  always 
be  remembered  to  his  credit  that  with  little 
encouragement,  and  for  the  love  of  the  labor, 
rather  than  for  any  reward,  he  gave  many 
laborious  years  to  the  task  of  establishing 
the  State's  place  in  history. 

Jacob  P.  Dunn,  who  wrote  "  Indiana :  A 
Redemption  from  Slavery,"  in  the  American 
Commonwealth  series  (1888),  employed  criti- 
cal methods  that  were  not  known  in  Dillon's 
day.  His  work  deals  with  a  brief  period,  and 
with  events  that  had  not  previously  been 
viewed  in  their  proper  perspective.  He  brought 
to  bear  upon  his  subject  a  scientific  analysis 
and  an  exhaustive  research  that  show  especial 
fitness  for  historical  writing.  His  descriptions 


"OF  MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  233 

of  the  early  French  habitant  are  delightfully 
written,  and  give  a  distinct  impression  of 
the  first  white  settlers  of  the  Wabash.  Mr. 
Dunn  has  written  also  "  Massacres  of  the 
Mountains"  (1886),  an  account  of  the  Indian 
wars  of  the  West,  which  is  noteworthy  for 
its  thorough  treatment  of  the  Mountain 
Meadows  incident.  It  is  a  standard  work 
of  reference,  and  one  of  the  most  popular 
books  catalogued  in  Western  libraries.  Mr. 
Dunn  served  a  term  as  State  librarian,  and 
has  been  for  many  years  tireless  in  pro- 
moting interest  in  libraries  for  rural  commu- 
nities. He  was  born  at  Lawrenceburg  (1855), 
and  was  graduated  (1874)  from  Earlham  Col- 
lege. 

John  Clark  Ridpath  (1840-  1900),  one  of  the 
most  prolific  of  Indiana  authors,  was  born  in 
Putnam  County  and  was  graduated  from  Asbury 
University,  with  which  he  was  subsequently 
connected  in  various  teaching  and  administra- 
tive capacities  for  many  years.  He  was  a 
most  successful  teacher,  particularly  of  history. 
Besides  many  text-books  he  published  "A 
Cyclopaedia  of  Universal  History"  (1885); 


234  THE   HOOSIERS 

"Great  Races  of  Mankind"  (1894);  "Life 
and  Memoirs  of  Bishop  William  Taylor " 
(1895);  and  many  monographs  on  historical 
and  biographical  subjects. 

Richard  G.  Boone's  "  History  of  Education 
in  Indiana"  (1892)  is  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant books  in  the  State's  bibliography.  Mr. 
Boone  is  also  the  author  of  "  Education  in  the 
United  States"  (1894).  He  was  for  ten  years 
identified  with  the  common  schools  of  Indiana, 
and  for  seven  years  held  the  chair  of  peda- 
gogics at  Indiana  University,  resigning  to 
become  superintendent  of  schools  at  Cin- 
cinnati. 

"The  Puritan  Republic"  (1899),  by  Daniel 
Wait  Howe,  shows  further  the  grasp  of  newer 
methods  in  historical  writing,  and  is  distin- 
guished by  thorough  treatment  and  judicial 
temper.  It  would  seem  that  nothing  could 
be  added  to  the  literature  of  this  subject, 
which  has  attracted  so  many  skilled  histo- 
rians; but  Judge  Howe  adduced  much  new 
material  and  presented  the  old  and  familiar 
in  an  orderly  and  attractive  manner.  This  is 
a  thorough  and  exact  work,  which  has  taken 


"OF  MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  235 

rank  with  the  accepted  authorities.  Judge 
Howe  is  entitled  to  his  word  on  the  Puritan, 
as  his  ancestors  were  among  the  pioneers 
of  Sudbury,  Massachusetts.  He  was  born 
in  Switzerland  County  (1839),  was  graduated 
from  Franklin  College,  served  four  years  in 
the  Civil  War  as  an  Indiana  soldier,  and 
enjoyed  the  unusual  distinction  of  sitting  for 
fourteen  years  continuously  as  a  judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  at  Indianapolis.  He  has  con- 
tributed valuable  essays  to  the  publications 
of  the  Indiana  Historical  Society. 

William  H.  English  (1822-1896)  gave  many 
years  to  a  study  of  the  life  and  services  of 
George  Rogers  Clark,  and  produced  (1896) 
"Conquest  of  the  Country  Northwest  of  the 
River  Ohio,  and  Life  of  George  Rogers  Clark," 
an  elaborate  work  in  two  volumes,  which  is  a 
veritable  encyclopaedia  of  facts.  As  Clark  had 
been  one  of  the  neglected  figures  in  American 
history,  the  preparation  of  his  biography  was 
in  the  nature  of  a  public  service.  Mr.  English 
is  also  the  author  of  an  historical  and  biographi- 
cal work  on  the  Indiana  constitution.  He  was 
born  in  Scott  County,  and  received  his  educa- 


236  THE  HOOSIERS 

tion  in  the  public  schools  and  at  Hanover 
College.  He  served  as  a  representative  in 
Congress  (1853-1861),  and  in  1880  was  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  vice-president  on 
the  ticket  with  Hancock. 

"Early  Indiana  Trials  and  Sketches"  (1858) 
is  a  racy  record  of  the  personal  experiences  of 
Oliver  H.  Smith  (1794-1859),  who  had  a  kind 
of  Boswellian  instinct  for  the  interesting.  As  a 
lawyer  he  "  rode  circuit "  with  Miles  Eggleston, 
David  Wallace,  James  Rariden,  John  Test,  and 
others  famous  in  the  early  days;  and  no  one 
has  written  of  these  men  with  nicer  apprecia- 
tion of  their  high  qualities.  He  was  elected  a 
senator  in  Congress  in  1836,  and  served  for  one 
term. 

William  Wesley  Woollen  (1828)  has  also 
added  to  the  literature  of  local  biography. 
His  "Biographical  and  Historical  Sketches  of 
Early  Indiana"  (1883)  contains  information 
that  is  nowhere  else  accessible,  and  it  is,  more- 
over, a  well-written  and  entertaining  volume. 

David  Demaree  Banta  (1833-1896)  wrote 
often  and  well  on  subjects  of  local  history,  and 
his  "  Historical  Sketch  of  Johnson  County " 


«OF   MAKING   MANY  BOOKS"  237 

(1881)  shines  amid  the  dreary  waste  of  Indiana 
County  histories.  It  contains  a  rare  fund  of 
information  touching  pioneer  life  in  general, 
and  reflects  in  some  degree  the  personality  of 
the  accomplished  and  versatile  author,  who  was 
a  fine  type  of  the  native  Hoosier. 

III.    Miscellaneous 

The  press  of  Indiana  has  aided  greatly  in  the 
State's  intellectual  advance.  In  the  larger 
towns  the  newspapers  have  usually  been  well 
written,  and  many  of  them  have  extended  sym- 
pathetic encouragement  to  beginners  in  author- 
ship. Many  Western  writers  found  their  first 
friendly  editors  at  the  offices  of  the  Herald  or 
Journal  at  Indianapolis.  John  H.  Holliday,  G. 

C.  Matthews,  Anna  Nicholas,  Elijah  W.  Halford, 
Charles  Richard  Williams,  A.  H.  Dooley,  Lewis 

D.  Hayes,  Morris  Ross  and  Louis  Rowland  are 
among   those   who,   in    the    hurried    labors   of 
daily  newspaper-making,    have   found   time   to 
preach   the   gospel   of    "  sweetness  and  light " 
through  the  Indianapolis  press.     High  on  the 
roll    of   Indiana   journalists  whose   talents   are 
especially  deserving  of  remembrance  is  Berry  R. 


238  THE  HOOSIERS 

Sulgrove  (1827-1890),  who  was  born  at  Indian- 
apolis, attended  local  schools,  learned  the  sad- 
dler's trade,  and  worked  for  a  short  time  as  a 
journeyman.  His  aptness  and  love  of  learning 
had  attracted  attention,  and  in  1847  ne  was 
enabled  to  enter  Bethany  College,  West  Vir- 
ginia, then  under  the  presidency  of  the  famous 
Alexander  Campbell.  His  preparatory  studies 
at  the  "  Old  Seminary "  of  Indianapolis  had 
been  so  thorough  that  he  was  graduated  at  the 
end  of  one  year  with  all  the  honors  of  the  col- 
lege, and  delivered  his  commencement  oration 
in  Greek.  He  studied  law  and  practised  for 
a  few  years,  but  became  connected  with  the 
Journal  in  1854,  and  was  thereafter  identified 
with  the  press  of  Indianapolis.  He  possessed 
an  extraordinary  memory  that  was  a  source  of 
constant  amazement  to  his  friends  and  associ- 
ates. His  information  in  many  departments  of 
knowledge  was  both  extensive  and  exact,  and 
he  retained,  to  the  end  of  his  life,  his  interest 
in  public  matters,  foreign  and  domestic.  He 
wrote  with  precision  and  grace,  and  his  use  of 
homely,  local  illustrations  added  to  the  interest 
and  force  of  what  he  had  to  say.  Now  and 


"OF  MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  239 

then  a  Macaulay-like  roll  would  sound  in  his 
sentences;  and  he  would  frequently  imitate 
Macaulay's  rhetorical  tricks,  as  by  declaring, 
with  conscious  humor,  that  some  local  event 
had  "never  been  equalled  between  the  old 
bridge  and  the  bayou";  but  he  wrote  usually 
without  affectation,  and  his  prodigious  memory 
made  possible  a  variety  of  suggestion  and  illus- 
tration that  never  failed  to  distinguish  his  work. 
During  many  years  he  was  at  different  times 
a  contributor  of  editorial  matter  to  all  of  the 
Indianapolis  newspapers,  extending  his  field  at 
intervals  to  the  Chicago  and  Cincinnati  dailies. 
He  wrote  usually  at  his  home,  and  latterly  had 
no  desk  in  any  newspaper  office,  though  a 
member  of  the  News  staff  to  the  end  of  his 
life.  His  manuscript  was  famous  among  West- 
ern printers,  who  encountered  it  at  Cincinnati, 
Indianapolis,  and  Chicago,  and  in  the  day  of 
Mr.  Sulgrove's  greatest  activity  seemed  unable 
to  escape  from  it.  He  wrote  habitually  on  the 
backs  of  old  election  tickets,  on  scraps  of  pro- 
grammes, on  bits  of  paper  picked  up  on  his 
country  walks,  but  never  by  any  chance  on  a 
clean  new  sheet  designed  for  the  purpose. 


240  THE  HOOSIERS 

His  handwriting  was  microscopic,  but  perfectly 
legible,  carefully  punctuated,  and  free  from 
erasure.  A  slip  the  length  and  breadth  of  the 
hand  might  contain  half  a  column.  No  more 
interesting  figure  than  he  ever  appeared  in 
Indiana  journalism  ;  but  his  ambitions  were  not 
equal  to  his  talents,  and  he  was  long  an  obscure 
figure  in  the  city  of  his  birth,  whose  intimate 
history  he  knew  familiarly.  His  "  History  of 
Indianapolis  and  Marion  County"  (1884)  con- 
tains only  slight  hints  of  his  superior  abilities. 
His  contemporary,  George  C.  Harding  (1829- 
1881),  was  a  native  of  Tennessee,  but  gave  the 
best  years  of  his  life  to  journalism  at  Indianapo- 
lis. He  was  a  student  of  human  nature  rather 
than  of  books,  but  his  literary  instincts  were 
true,  and  in  the  two  weekly  newspapers,  the 
Herald  and  the  Review,  which  he  conducted, 
he  was  at  once  the  inspiration  and  the  terror  of 
his  contributors.  Some  of  the  sketches  in  a 
volume  of  his  "  Miscellaneous  Writings"  (1882) 
show  an  agreeably  humorous  turn.  He  had  the 
trained  journalist's  appreciation  of  condensed 
wisdom.  It  was  his  habit  to  repeat,  week  after 
week,  a  satirical  paragraph  in  which  some  indi- 


"OF  MAKING  MANY  BOOKS"  24! 

vidual  was  pilloried  until  the  victim's  name 
became  a  by-word  and  a  hissing  in  the  com- 
munity. Sometimes  this  served  a  moral  pur- 
pose ;  again  the  intention  was  purely  humorous. 
Years  ago  a  candidate  for  constable,  who  was 
also  a  delegate  to  the  nominating  convention 
held  at  Indianapolis,  received  therein  exactly 
one  vote.  The  question,  "Who  voted  for  Dau- 
benspeck  ?  "  was  thereupon  reiterated  weekly  in 
the  Herald,  until  it  passed  permanently  into  a 
phrase  of  local  speech. 

Angelina  Teal's  "John  Thome's  Folks" 
(1884),  and  "Muriel  Howe"  (1892);  Margaret 
Holmes's  "Chamber  Over  the  Gate"  (1886); 
Martha  Livingstone  Moody's  "Alan  Thorne  " 
(1889);  Harriet  Newell  Lodge's  "A  Bit  of 
Finesse"  (1894);  many  excellent  short  stories 
by  Helen  Rockwood  Edson,  literary  essays  by 
Harriet  Noble  and  Kate  Milner  Rabb,  and  Ida 
Husted  Harper's  "  Life  and  Work  of  Susan  B. 
Anthony,"  emphasize  the  part  that  women  have 
played  in  the  State's  literary  achievement.  The 
Rev.  Charles  R.  Henderson,  of  Lafayette,  a 
member  of  the  faculty  of  Chicago  University, 
has  been  a  prolific  writer  on  sociological  sub- 


242  THE   HOOSIERS 

jects.  John  Augustine  Wilstach,  also  of  La- 
fayette, has  busied  himself  with  philological 
studies.  He  translated  Virgil  (1884)  and  Dante 
(1888),  and  coincidently  with  the  publication  of 
these  versions  issued  critical  reviews  of  the 
literature  touching  his  subjects.  The  text  of 
Lucian  was  edited  for  school  use  (1882)  by 
Charles  Richard  Williams,  who  became  an  In- 
dianapolis journalist ;  and  Demarchus  C.  Brown 
translated  selections  of  Lucian  into  English 
(1896).  George  Ade,  who  discovered  fresh  sub- 
jects for  materialistic  fiction  in  Chicago,  was 
born  in  Indiana  and  educated  at  Purdue,  as  was 
also  his  illustrator,  John  T.  McCutcheon.  Mr. 
Ade  has  a  touch  all  his  own,  and  his  character 
studies  are  thoroughly  original.  He  and  Hector 
Fuller,  another  Hoosier  writer  of  short  fiction, 
show  how  the  journalist  may  successfully  turn 
his  hand  to  book-making.  William  P.  Fish- 
back,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Indianapolis 
Literary  Club,  has  published  (1895)  his  "  Recol- 
lections of  Lord  Coleridge,"  with  whom  he  en- 
joyed a  delightful  acquaintance ;  and  another 
member  of  the  club,  Augustus  Lynch  Mason, 
wrote  "Romance  and  Tragedy  of  Pioneer  Life" 


"OF  MAKING   MANY   BOOKS"  243 

(1883).  Benjamin  Harrison's  public  services 
cannot  obscure  the  fact  of  his  authorship  of 
"This  Country  of  Ours"  (1899),  a  capital  ac- 
count of  the  functions  of  the  several  depart- 
ments of  the  Federal  government. 

That  form  of  humorous  writing  which  has 
become  a  feature  of  American  journalism,  and 
which  is,  moreover,  a  sharply  critical  commen- 
tary on  contemporaneous  American  life,  not  to 
be  rejected  lightly,  is  also  produced  in  great 
volume  in  Indiana.  This  goes  to  the  public 
anonymously,  but  Emma  Carleton,  R.  D.  Ste- 
venson ("  Wick  wire"),  and  Wood  Levette  Wil- 
son are  among  those  whose  dialogues,  para- 
graphs, and  jingles  constantly  appear  in  many 
publications.  S.  W.  Gillilan,  who  wrote  "  Fin- 
nigan  to  Flannigan,"  the  verses  in  Irish  dia- 
lect which  have  become  a  kind  of  American 
railway  classic,  is  an  Indianian. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

AN  INDIANA  CHOIR 

I.    Early    Writers 

THE  specific  talent  necessary  to  the  expres- 
sion of  local  life  is  much  rarer  than  the  ability 
to  write  of  life  in  the  abstract.  If  the  knack 
of  writing  accompanied  a  sensibility  to  the  life 
that  lay  nearest,  we  should  long  ago  have  had 
an  abundant  American  literature  descriptive  of 
conditions  that  have  passed  and  will  not,  in 
the  very  nature  of  things,  recur.  But  the  line 
of  impressionability  may  not  be  controlled ;  and 
though  many  protests  have  been  launched 
against  minor  American  poets  for  looking  be- 
yond the  robin  to  the  nightingale,  the  rejection 
of  the  near  continues,  though  in  a  diminishing 
degree.  The  early  poets  of  the  Ohio  Valley  did 
not  often  approach  closely  to  the  Western  soil ; 
they  lacked  insight  and  courage  and  their  work 
was  usually  not  interesting.  When  they  occa- 
sionally essayed  a  Western  subject,  they  were 
244 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  245 

unable  to  bring  to  bear  upon  it  any  novelty  of 
treatment ;  it  was  all  "  icily  regular,  splendidly 
null."  William  T.  Coggeshall  states  in  the 
preface  to  his  "  Poets  and  Poetry  of  the  West " 
(1864)  that  in  the  early  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  "  soldiers,  hunters,  and  boatmen 
had  among  them  many  songs  descriptive  of 
adventures  incident  to  backwoods  life,  some  of 
which  were  not  destitute  of  poetic  merit;  but 
they  were  known  only  around  campfires,  or 
on  'broadhorns'  "  (flat-boats),  and  tradition,  he 
adds,  preserved  none  worthy  to  be  included  in 
his  anthology.  But  these  racy  songs  would 
have  been  of  greater  value  than  much  of  the 
verse  that  he  has  preserved  in  his  pages, 
though  as  a  part  of  the  history  of  development 
this,  too,  is  not  to  be  spurned.  Coggeshall's 
work  includes  notices  of  ninety-seven  men  and 
fifty-five  women.  Twenty-three  of  the  total 
he  attributes  to  Indiana  by  reason  of  residence, 
and  thirteen  of  the  number  were  natives  of 
the  State.  Only  a  small  proportion  of  the 
poets  named  by  Coggeshall  survived,  though 
the  writers  of  the  biographical  notes  accom- 
panying his  selections  were  cordial  and  anxious 


246  THE   HOOSIERS 

to  confer  immortality.  William  D.  Howells  and 
John  J.  Piatt  are  included,  and  Mr.  Howells 
wrote  several  of  the  sketches.  It  is  diverting 
to  read  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Howells's  biographer 
that  "  some  of  his  prose  sketches  are  quite 
equal  in  grace  of  conception  and  individuality 
of  treatment  to  any  of  his  poems."  He  was 
then  twenty-seven. 

Cincinnati  and  Lexington,  Kentucky,  were 
early  rivals  for  literary  prominence  at  the  West : 
one  was  the  seat  of  Cincinnati  College,  the 
other  of  Transylvania  University.  Many  books 
were  published  at  Lexington  before  1825, 
and  The  Medley,  or  Monthly  Miscellany,  which 
appeared  there  in  1803,  is  believed  to  have 
been  the  first  magazine  published  west  of  the 
Alleghanies.  Hunt's  Western  Review,  which 
was  formerly  regarded  as  the  pioneer,  dated 
from  1819,  and  was  also  a  Lexington  publica- 
tion. Lexington  dropped  out,  and  Louisville 
fell  into  place  as  a  defender  of  the  literary 
faith  with  the  advent  of  George  D.  Prentice, 
who  became  the  ardent  champion  of  the  muses 
in  the  Ohio  Valley.  The  headquarters  of  poets 
for  this  region  was  the  office  of  the  Louis- 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  247 

ville  Journal  during  Prentice's  reign,  and  all 
of  the  Coggeshall  poets  laid  the  tribute  of 
their  song  before  him.  To  paraphrase  Bishop 
Butler's  remark  about  the  strawberry,  quoted 
by  Walton,  doubtless  Prentice  might  have  de- 
clined a  poem  or  discouraged  a  poet,  but 
doubtless  he  never  did.  He  was  not  an  exact- 
ing critic,  and  he  encouraged  many  who  were 
without  talent ;  but  he  took  away  the  reproach 
of  the  neglected  and  unappreciated,  and  now 
and  then  he  found  a  few  grains  in  the  chaff 
to  pay  him  for  his  trouble. 

The  Literary  Gazette,  which  appeared  at 
Cincinnati  in  1824,  with  the  motto  "Not  to 
display  learning,  but  to  excite  a  taste  for  it," 
numbered  Mrs.  Julia  L.  Dumont,  of  Vevay, 
among  its  contributors ;  and  she  was  the  first 
Indiana  writer  to  become  identified  with  the 
group  of  aspirants  that  now  began  to  appear 
along  the  Ohio.  The  prospectus  of  another 
Western  Review,  published  at  Cincinnati  for 
three  years  from  May,  1827,  declared  that 
"we  are  a  scribbling  and  forthputting  people. 
Little  as  they  have  dreamed  of  the  fact  in 
the  Atlantic  country,  we  have  our  thousand 


248  THE   HOOSIERS 

orators  and  poets."  However  this  may  have 
been,  "the  Atlantic  country"  invaded  the 
Ohio  Valley  in  1835,  when  the  Western 
Messenger  was  begun  at  Cincinnati,  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Western  Unitarian  Asso- 
ciation. It  was  edited  first  by  the  Rev. 
Ephraim  Peabody,  and  later,  at  Louisville,  by 
James  Freeman  Clarke.  Clarke  left  Louisville 
in  1840,  and  the  Messenger  was  continued  at 
Cincinnati  by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Channing.  John 
B.  Dillon  represented  Indiana  in  its  table  of 
contents,  and  found  himself  in  good  company, 
with  Emerson,  William  Ellery  Channing,  Jones 
Very,  and  C.  P.  Cranch.  The  periodical  was, 
as  Venable  calls  it,  "an  exotic  —  a  Boston 
flower  blooming  on  the  Ohio,"  and  it  ceased 
to  appear  in  1841.  In  the  same  year,  the 
Ladies'  Repository  made  its  appearance  at  Cin- 
cinnati, under  Methodist  auspices,  and  was  pub- 
lished continuously  for  thirty-six  years.  Mrs. 
Dumont,  Mrs.  Sarah  T.  Bolton,  Miss  Mary 
Louise  Chitwood,  Mrs.  Rebecca  S.  Nichols, 
Mrs.  A.  L.  Ruter  Dufour,  Horace  P.  Biddle, 
and  Isaac  H.  Julian  were  the  principal  Indiana 
contributors.  The  number  of  Indiana  writers 


AN   INDIANA   CHOIR  249 

increased  steadily,  and  the  Genius  of  the  West, 
a  Cincinnati  magazine  dating  from  1855,  ex- 
tended the  list  to  include  the  names  of  Ben- 
jamin S.  Parker,  John  B.  Dillon,  and  Louise 
E.  Vickroy.  Peter  Fishe  Reed,  also  a  con- 
tributor to  the  Genius  of  the  West  and  similar 
magazines  of  the  period,  combined  farming 
with  literary  experiments  near  Mount  Vernon 
(Indiana),  and  lived  for  a  time  at  Indianapolis. 
The  majority  of  these  pioneer  periodicals  lived 
only  a  short  time,  and  the  Civil  War  brought 
a  final  interruption  to  most  of  them ;  they 
passed  out  with  the  "annuals,"  whose  literary 
flavor  was  similar.  Indiana's  ante-bellum  writ- 
ers usually  looked  to  Louisville  and  Cincinnati 
for  publicity,  and  no  serious  effort  was  made 
to  establish  literary  magazines  within  the  State.1 
It  curiously  happened,  however,  that  Emerson 
Bennett,  a  voluminous  producer  of  "  penny 
dreadfuls,"  published  a  literary  paper  called 
the  Casket,  at  Lawrenceburgh  (1846),  but  soon 
abandoned  it.  The  patient  research  of  Ven- 
able  discovered  the  Western  Censor,  published 

1  "  Beginnings  of  Literary  Culture  in  the  Ohio  Valley,"  by 
W.  H.  Venable,  LL.D.,  p.  58  et  seq. 


250  THE  HOOSIERS 

at  Indianapolis  in  1823-1824,  and  The  Family 
Schoolmaster,  which  had  a  brief  existence  at 
Richmond  in  1839.  The  Querist  was  con- 
ducted by  Mrs.  Nichols  for  a  few  months  at 
Cincinnati  in  1844,  and  Henry  Ward  Beecher's 
Indiana  Farmer  and  Gardener  was  begun  at 
Indianapolis  in  1845,  but  removed  to  Cincin- 
nati in  the  following  year.  Beecher's  contri- 
butions to  this  paper  were  the  nucleus  of  his 
book  "  A  Pleasant  Talk  about  Fruits,  Flowers, 
and  Farming."  The  Literary  Messenger  is 
credited  to  Versailles,  1854. 

Coggeshall  included  among  the  Indianians  in 
his  anthology  William  Wallace  Harney,  who  was 
born  (1832)  at  Bloomington,  where  his  father  was 
a  professor  in  Indiana  University ;  and  William 
Ross  Wallace,  born  (1819)  at  Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky, and  educated  at  Bloomington  and  Han- 
over colleges ;  but  as  the  literary  life  of  both 
began  after  they  had  left  the  State,  they  may 
hardly  be  catalogued  as  Indiana  authors.  The 
Rev.  Sidney  Dyer,  a  native  of  New  York  State 
(1814),  was  for  a  number  of  years  (1852-1859), 
a  Baptist  minister  at  Indianapolis.  He  is  the 
author  of  a  number  of  books,  and  his  writings 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  251 

include  many  popular  songs  and  poems.  Isaac 
H.  Julian,  a  native  of  Wayne  County  (1823), 
and  the  brother  of  George  W.  Julian,  hardly 
added  subsequently  to  the  reputation  he  had 
gained  prior  to  the  publication  of  Coggeshall's 
book,  and  the  same  is  true  of  Granville  M. 
Ballard,  who  was  born  in  Kentucky  (1833), 
and  after  his  graduation  from  Asbury  Uni- 
versity became  a  resident  of  Indianapolis,  where 
he  is  still  living.  Horace  P.  Biddle,  born  in 
Ohio  (1818-1900),  removed  at  an  early  age 
to  Indiana,  where  he  became  prominent  in 
affairs,  and  held  many  public  offices  before 
his  retirement.  He  aided  in  the  early  efforts 
in  behalf  of  common  school  education,  and  was 
a  diligent  student  and  writer.  Noble  Butler 
is  placed  in  Kentucky's  list  of  early  writers, 
though  his  residence  at  Hanover  gives  Indiana 
a  claim  upon  him.  He  frequently  translated 
German  poetry  and  wrote  original  verse  occa- 
sionally ;  but  the  fugitive  essays  of  his  nephew, 
Noble  C.  Butler,  of  Indianapolis,  are  better  lit- 
erature. Coggeshall  includes  also  Jonathan  W. 
Gordon  and  Henry  W.  Ellsworth,  of  Indianapo- 
lis, whose  contributions  to  the  literature  of  the 


252  THE   HOOSIERS 

period  were  slight  and  without  distinction. 
Ellsworth  was  a  native  of  Connecticut  and  a 
graduate  of  Yale  (1834).  Amanda  L.  Ruter 
Dufour  (1822-1899)  and  Laura  M.  Thurston 
(1812-1842)  are  properly  included  among  In- 
diana's early  poets.  The  latter  wrote  the  lines 
"  On  Crossing  the  Alleghanies  "  and  "  The  Green 
Hills  of  My  Fatherland,"  which  are  above  the 
average  in  the  collection  and  were  once  much 
applauded.  George  W.  Cutter,  whose  "  Song  of 
Steam,"  beginning,  — 

"  Harness  me  down  with  your  iron  bands ; 
Be  sure  of  your  curb  and  rein, "  — 

was  once  in  favor,  lived  in  Indiana,  and  sat  in 
the  General  Assembly.  He  died  at  Washing- 
ton in  1865.  Rebecca  S.  Nichols  was  long 
associated  with  the  little  band  of  writers  who 
printed  verses  and  tales  in  Louisville  and 
Cincinnati  publications,  and  her  literary  in- 
stincts were  truer  than  those  of  most  of  her  con- 
temporaries. She  is  still  living  at  Indianapolis. 
A  mournful  interest  attaches  to  the  work  of 
Mary  Louise  Chitwood,  who  was  born  at  Mount 
Carmel,  October  29,  1832,  and  died  there 
twenty-three  years  later,  sincerely  mourned 


AN   INDIANA  CHOIR  253 

by  the  whole  choir  of  Western  poets.  Prentice 
had  encouraged  her,  and  he  wrote  a  memoir  to 
accompany  a  volume  of  her  verses  that  appeared 
in  1857.  Her  work  promised  well,  though  it 
shared  the  defects  of  most  of  the  verse  of  the 
day. 

Sarah  T.  Bolton  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
figures  in  Coggeshall,  and  though  born  in  Ken- 
tucky (1820),  her  long  life  was  spent  principally 
in  Indiana.  Her  husband,  Nathaniel  Bolton, 
edited  the  first  newspaper  ever  published  in 
Indianapolis.  Mrs.  Bolton  began  writing  at  an 
early  age,  and  through  many  years  it  may  be 
said  that  she  stood  for  poetry  in  Indiana.  Many 
of  her  poems  are  stiff  and  formal  and  show  little 
originality ;  but  often  her  pieces  are  free  and 
spontaneous,  and  she  had  humor,  which  most 
of  the  early  poets  of  the  West  lacked.  Her 
last  volume  (1891)13  dedicated  "  To  the  poets 
of  Indiana,  my  children  after  the  spirit." 
She  was  known  to  Willis  and  Morris,  of  the 
Knickerbocker  group  contemporary  with  her. 
Her  husband  was  appointed  consul  at  Geneva 
in  1855,  and  she  lived  for  a  number  of  years 
abroad,  finding  fresh  material  for  poems  in  her 


254  THE   HOOSIERS 

travels.  She  died  at  Indianapolis  in  1893. 
Her  best-known  poem  is  "Paddle  Your  Own 
Canoe."  She  was  a  loyal  Indianian  and  wrote 
the  lines :  — 

"  The  winds  of  Heaven  never  fanned, 
The  circling  sunlight  never  spanned 
The  borders  of  a  better  land 
Than  our  own  Indiana." 

Benjamin  S.  Parker,  of  all  the  poets  dis- 
covered in  Indiana  by  Coggeshall,  acquired 
the  greatest  skill  in  versification,  and  wrote 
most  comprehensively  of  the  pioneer  life.  He 
was  born  on  a  farm  near  New  Castle  (1833), 
and  is  one,  at  least,  to  whom  the  phrase 
"racy  of  the  soil"  needs  no  explanation.  He 
lived  in  a  log-cabin,  performing  the  hardest 
farm  labor,  and  long  observation  of  life  at 
the  West  made  him  an  authority  in  matters 
of  customs  and  dialect.  His  volume  "The 
Cabin  in  the  Clearing  "  (1887)  contains  many 
poems  in  which  the  trials  of  the  earlier  set- 
tlers are  graphically  depicted,  and  it  was  his 
right,  as  one  who  had  aided  in  the  rough 
work  of  the  pioneers,  to  urge  the  new  gen- 
erations to  use  worthily  the  opportunities 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  255 

which  they  inherited.  Of  the  fauna  and  flora 
of  his  own  woodlands  Mr.  Parker  became  the 
especial  celebrant.  The  following  lines  from 
one  of  his  most  graceful  pieces  are  character- 
istic of  his  happiest  moods:  — 

"  I  had  a  dream  of  other  days,  — 

In  golden  luxury  waved  the  wheat ; 
In  tangled  greenness  shook  the  maize ; 

The  squirrels  ran  with  nimble  feet, 
And  in  and  out  among  the  trees 

The  hangbird  darted  like  a  flame ; 
The  cat-bird  piped  his  melodies, 

Purloining  every  warbler's  fame  : 
And  then  I  heard  triumphal  song, 
'Tis  morning  and  the  days  are  long." 

Mr.  Parker  felt,  more  than  any  other  poet 
of  the  Ohio  Valley,  the  grandeur  of  the  vast 
woodlands  as  the  pioneers  found  them,  and 
he  has  touched  upon  it  constantly  in  his  writ- 
ings. He  lived  for  several  years  in  Canada, 
as  a  consular  officer,  and  wrote  a  series  of 
poems  under  Northern  influences;  but  he  has 
been  most  fortunate  in  subjects  derived  from 
home  experiences.  He  is  a  connecting  link 
between  the  earliest  Indiana  writers  and  their 
successors,  and  he  has  been  one  of  the  hum' 


256  THE   HOOSIERS 

blest  and  most  devoted  and  sincere  of  all  the 
servants  of  literature  in  his  State. 

II.    Forceythe  Wills  on 

It  is  an  abrupt  transition  from  these  pio- 
neers of  poesy  to  Forceythe  Willson,  the  only 
Indiana  poet  who  ever  came  in  contact 
with  the  New  England  group.  Emerson,  in 
the  preface  to  his  "Parnassus"  (1874),  says, 
"  I  have  inserted  only  one  of  the  remarkable 
poems  of  Forceythe  Willson,  a  young  Wis- 
consin poet  of  extraordinary  promise,  who  died 
very  soon  after  this  was  written."  The  poem 
chosen  was  "  In  State."  This  placing  of  Will- 
son  in  Wisconsin  is,  as  Piatt  says  in  his  elo- 
quent sketch  of  the  poet,1  rather  needless,  for 
he  was  never  connected  with  Wisconsin  in 
any  way.  He  was  born  at  Genesee  Falls, 
New  York,  April  10,  1837.  IR  l846  n*s  father 
removed  to  Kentucky,  and  in  1852  to  New 
Albany.  Willson  spent  about  a  year  at  Anti- 
och  College,  in  Ohio,  and  went  afterward  to 
Harvard,  but  left  in  his  sophomore  year, 
owing  to  ill  health.  His  home  was  in  Indi- 

1  Atlantic  Monthly,  Vol.  35. 


AN  INDIANA   CHOIR  257 

ana  from  1852  to  1864.  He  wrote  his  best 
poems,  indeed  the  greater  part  of  his  slender 
product,  at  New  Albany,  and  his  residence 
there,  in  immediate  contact  with  the  seat  of 
war,  colored  his  distinctive  work.  He  married, 
in  1863,  Elizabeth  Conwell  Smith,  whom  he 
had  met  the  preceding  year  at  New  Albany, 
and  whose  literary  gifts  created  a  bond  of 
sympathy  between  them.  They  removed 
shortly  to  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  where 
one  of  Willson's  brothers  was  in  school.  He 
purchased  a  house  on  the  Mount  Auburn 
road,  near  Lowell's  home,  with  an  outlook 
on  the  Charles  River.  James  R.  Gilmore 
(Edmund  Kirke)  was  his  neighbor  and  saw 
much  of  him  at  Cambridge.  He  wrote,  in 
1895,  his  recollections,  testifying  to  Willson's 
unusual  qualities,  and  giving  this  description 
of  his  personal  appearance :  — 

"  Take  him,  all  in  all,  he  was  the  most  lovable  man  I 
ever  knew ;  and  as  a  mere  specimen  of  physical  manhood 
he  was  a  joy  to  look  at.  A  little  above  the  medium  height, 
he  was  perfectly  proportioned  and  of  a  sinewy,  symmetrical 
figure.  His  hair  was  raven  black,  wavy,  and  glossy  as  satin. 
His  skin  was  a  light  olive,  slightly  tinged  with  red,  and  his 
features  were  regular,  somewhat  prominent,  and  exceed- 


258  THE  HOOSIERS 

ingly  flexible,  showing  an  organization  of  a  highly  sensitive 
character.  But  his  eyes  were  what  riveted  the  observer's 
attention.  Mr.  Longfellow  told  me  they  were  the  finest 
type  of  the  Oriental,  but  I  never  saw  eyes  —  Eastern  or 
Western  —  to  compare  with  them  in  luminous  power. 
They  were  full,  large,  and  dark,  with  overhanging  lashes ; 
but  for  the  life  of  me  I  cannot  tell  their  precise  color.  At 
times  they  seemed  a  deep  blue,  at  other  times  an  intense 
black,  and  then  they  were  balls  of  fire,  as  he  was  stirred  by 
some  strong  emotion.  They  spoke  the  ready  language  of 
a  deep,  strong,  fiery,  yet  chastened,  nature  as  it  was  moved 
by  love,  joy,  sorrow  or  indignation."1 

Piatt  remarks  upon  his  "  Oriental  look  and 
manner,"  and  all  who  knew  him  were  impressed 
by  his  distinguished  appearance  and  grave  cour- 
tesy. In  1858  New  Albany  became  interested 
in  spiritualism.  Willson  fell  under  the  spell  and 
began  a  study  of  the  subject.  Piatt  says  that 
Willson  "  soon  abandoned  the  professors,  but 
retained  until  his  death  a  serious  spiritual  theory 
or  faith  of  his  own.  He  believed  —  and  he  was 
absolutely  honest  and  sincere,  I  am  sure,  in  his 
faith  —  that  the  spirits  of  the  dead  could,  and  at 
times  do,  have  communication  with  the  living." 

Willson  seems  not  to  have  had  an  active  occu- 
pation at  any  time.  His  father  had  been  success- 

1  Indianapolis  News,  March  2,  1895. 


AN   INDIANA  CHOIR  259 

ful  in  business,  and  dying  at  New  Albany  in 
1859,  left  a  comfortable  fortune  to  his  children. 
The  poet  lived  by  himself  for  a  number  of  years, 
at  New  Albany,  in  a  small  house  where  he  sur- 
rounded himself  with  books  and  led  the  life  of 
a  student.  Louisville  is  directly  across  the  Ohio 
from  New  Albany,  and  Willson  was  known  to  a 
few  of  the  literary  people  on  the  Kentucky  side, 
particularly  to  Prentice.  The  approach  of  the 
Civil  War  aroused  in  him  a  deep  interest  in  its 
great  issues,  and  he  wrote  editorials  in  support 
of  the  Union  cause  for  Prentice' §  Jotirnal.  He 
began  in  the  first  year  of  the  war,  and  concluded 
later,  his  poem  "  In  State,"  which,  in  spite  of  its 
occasional  vagueness  and  its  despairing  view  of 
the  political  situation,  is  written  in  an  effective 
stanza  and  is  splendidly  imaginative.  He  gloom- 
ily assumed  that  the  nation  was  dead  —  hence 
his  personification  of  it  as  a  prone  figure  lying 
"  in  state,"  and  he  brings  the  rulers  of  Europe 
to  look  upon  it,  — 

"  The  winds  have  tied  the  drifted  snow 
Around  the  face  and  chin  ;  and  lo, 
The  sceptred  giants  come  and  go 

And  shake  their  shadowy  crowns  and  say  :  'We 
always  feared  it  would  be  so  ! ' " 


260  THE   HOOSIERS 

There  is  hardly  a  stanza  in  the  poem  that  does 
not  contain  some  striking  image.  It  moves  on 
in  the  mournful  cadence  of  a  miserere  :  — 

"  The  Sisterhood  that  was  so  sweet, 
The  Starry  System  sphered  complete, 
Which  the  mazed  Orient  used  to  greet, 

The  Four  and  Thirty  fallen   Stars  glimmer  and 
glitter  at  her  feet." 

He  published,  January  I,  1863,  as  a  carrier's 
address  in  the  Louisville  Journal,  "  The  Old 
Sergeant/'  which  Piatt  believed  to  have  been 
"the  transcript  of  a  real  history,  none  of  the 
names  in  it  being  fictitious,  and  the  story  being 
reported  as  exactly  as  possible  from  the  lips  of  a 
Federal  assistant  surgeon  named  Austin,  with 
whom  Willson  was  acquainted  at  New  Albany." 
The  poem  appeared  anonymously,  and  for  some 
reason,  which  was  never  explained,  Willson 
seemed  reluctant  at  first  to  admit  its  authorship: 
It  attracted  wide  attention.  Gilmore  relates 
that  early  in  1863,  in  the  office  of  the  Atlantic 
Monthly,  he  met  Dr.  Holmes,  who  held  in  his 
hand  a  copy  of  the  Louisville  Journal,  containing 
"The  Old  Sergeant"  "  Read  that,"  said  he, 
"  and  tell  me  if  it's  not  the  finest  thing  since  the 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  26 1 

war  began.  Sit  down  and  read  it  here ;  you 
might  lose  it  if  I  let  you  take  it  away."  The 
ballad  is  found  in  "  The  Old  Sergeant  and  Other 
Poems  "  (1867).  It  is  a  vivid  narrative  of  sus- 
tained power  and  interest,  deriving  strength  from 
the  earnestness  of  the  recital  and  the  simple 
language,  sometimes  descending  to  army  slang, 
of  the  soldier.  The  poem  is  historically  accurate 
and  is  a  fine  celebration  of  the  battle  of  Shiloh  : 

"  There  was  where  Lew  Wallace  showed  them  he  was  of 
the  canny  kin, 

There  was  where  old  Nelson  thundered,  and  where  Rous- 
seau waded  in ; 

There  McCook  sent  'em  to  breakfast,  and  we  all  began  to 

win  — 

There  was  where  the  grapeshot  took  me,  just  as  we 
began  to  win. 

"  Now,  a  shroud  of  snow  and  silence  over  everything  was 

spread ; 
And  but  for  this  old  blue  mantle  and  the  old  hat  on  my 

head, 
I  should  not  have  even  doubted,  to  this  moment,  I  was 

dead  — 
For  my  footsteps  were  as  silent  as  the  snow  upon  the 

dead!" 

There  is  a  suggestion  of  Poe,  whom  Willson 
greatly  admired,  in  the  repetition,  with   slight 


262  THE  HOOSIERS 

variation,  of  the  third  line  of  the  stanza;  but 
such  points  Willson  always  considered  care- 
fully. He  was  certainly  not  servilely  imitative, 
and  he  is  an  ungenerous  critic  who  would 
pick  flaws  in  a  poem  that  is  so  fine  as  a  whole. 
"The  Old  Sergeant"  is  entitled  to  a  place  with 
the  best  poems  of  the  war — with  Mrs.  Howe's 
"  Battle  Hymn,"  Brownell's  stirring  pieces,  Will 
H.  Thompson's  "High  Tide  at  Gettysburg,"  and 
Ticknor's  "Little  Giffen."  These  stand  apart 
from  Lowell's  "  Commemoration  Ode"  and  simi- 
lar poems,  which  are  civic  rather  than  military. 
In  "  The  Rhyme  of  the  Master's  Mate,"  Willson 
turned  again  to  the  heroic,  and  while  the  poem 
is  less  artistic  than  "  The  Old  Sergeant,"  it  has 
a  swing  and  a  stroke  that  fit  his  theme  well. 
His  volume  contains  a  number  of  mystical 
pieces,  colored  by  his  belief  in  spiritualism, 
and  a  few  lyrics,  as  "The  Estray"  and 
"Autumn  Song,"  which  have  an  elusive  charm 
and  increase  admiration  for  his  talents.  Will- 
son  was  emphatically  a  masculine  character. 
In  literature  and  in  life  he  liked  what  he 
called  "muscle,"  and  he  certainly  showed  a 
sinewy  grasp  in  his  best  poems.  It  is  related 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  263 

that  once  during  the  war  he  organized,  and 
armed  at  his  own  expense,  a  home  guard  to 
protect  New  Albany  in  a  dangerous  crisis,  and 
at  other  times  he  displayed  great  personal 
courage.  If  it  had  not  been  for  his  ill  health 
he  would  undoubtedly  have  enlisted. 

Willson  was  not  immediately  identified  at 
Cambridge  as  the  author  of  "The  Old  Ser- 
geant." As  Dr.  Holmes  said  after  Willson's 
death,  "  He  came  among  us  as  softly  and 
silently  as  a  bird  drops  into  his  nest,"  and  it 
was  not  like  him  to  call  attention  to  his  own 
performances.  After  the  death  of  his  wife 
and  infant  child,  October  13,  1864,  Willson 
was  often  at  Gilmore's  house,  where  he  first 
saw  Emerson.  Gilmore  relates  that  he  re- 
turned home  one  day  from  Boston  to  find 
Lowell  lying  at  full  length  on  a  lounge  in  the 
library,  in  animated  conversation  with  Willson. 
On  this  occasion  an  incident  occurred  illustra- 
tive of  Willson's  gift  of  "second  sight."  Long- 
fellow was  mentioned  in  the  conversation,  and 
Willson  remarked  that  the  poet  would  be  there 
shortly.  No  one  had  an  intimation  of  the  visit, 
but  Willson  described  the  route  that  Longfel- 


264  THE   HOOSIERS 

low  was  then  following  toward  the  house;  and 
when  the  poet  presently  arrived,  he  affirmed 
the  statement  of  his  itinerary  as  Willson  had 
given  it.  Willson' s  interest  in  life  ended  with 
the  death  of  his  wife,  whose  few  poems  he  pub- 
lished privately.  She  is  remembered  at  New 
Albany  as  a  girl  of  great  beauty  and  refinement. 
Willson  left  Cambridge  in  the  fall  of  1866 
for  New  Albany.  While  there  he  suffered 
hemorrhages  of  the  lungs  and  was  ill  for  a 
month.  He  never  regained  his  strength,  and 
his  death  occurred  February  2,  1867,  at  Alfred, 
New  York.  His  convictions  as  to  spiritualism 
grew  firmer  after  his  wife's  death,  and  toward 
the  last,  so  one  of  his  brothers  wrote,  "  his  wife 
and  child  seemed  to  be  with  him  constantly, 
and  he  talked  to  them  in  a  low  voice."  He 
was  buried  at  Laurel,  the  home  of  Mrs.  Will- 
son's  family,  in  the  White  Water  Valley.  His 
wife  and  child  lie  in  one  grave  beside  him. 
The  quiet  hilltop  cemetery  commands  a  view 
of  one  of  the  loveliest  landscapes  in  Indiana, 
and  it  is  fitly  touched  with  something  of  the 
peace,  strength,  and  beauty  that  are  associated 
with  Willson 's  name. 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  265 

III.    Later  Poets 

Willson  marked  the  beginning  of  better 
things,  and  a  livelier  fancy  and  a  keener  criti- 
cal spirit  is  henceforward  observable  —  in  the 
writings  of  a  veteran  like  Parker,  and  in  the 
new  company  of  writers  that  was  forming.  The 
Civil  War  had  profoundly  moved  the  Central 
States,  and  Indiana  had  perhaps  felt  it  more  than 
her  neighbors.  Willson  had  lifted  his  voice  for 
the  Union  while  the  war  cloud  still  lay  upon  the 
land,  and  the  Thompson  brothers  spoke  for 
the  South  from  Indiana  soil  on  the  arrival  of 
the  era  of  better  feeling.  Ben  D.  House,  who 
had  served  in  the  Federal  armies,  wrote  with 
truth  and  spirit.  He  ran  away  from  his  home 
in  Vermont  when  he  was  seventeen,  and  en- 
tered the  army  from  Massachusetts.  He  saw 
hard  service,  and  received  wounds  which  were 
a  constant  menace  for  the  remainder  of  his  life. 
He  was  mustered  out  finally  at  Indianapolis, 
and  lived  there  almost  continuously  until  his 
death  in  1887.  His  idiosyncrasies  and  affec- 
tations were  many,  and  included  the  wearing  of 
a  great  cloak,  in  which  he  sombrely  wrapped 


266  THE  HOOSIERS 

himself  in  cold  weather.  His  poems  were 
printed  privately  by  his  friends  in  1892.  He 
had  fair  luck  with  the  sonnet,  and  wrote,  on 
the  occasion  of  Grant's  death,  "  Appomattox," 
which  follows :  — 

"  To  peace-white  ashes  sunk  war's  lurid  flame ; 
The  drums  had  ceased  to  growl,  and  died  away 
The  bark  of  guns,  where  fronting  armies  lay, 

And  for  the  day  the  dogs  of  war  were  tame, 

And  resting  on  the  field  of  blood-fought  fame, 
For  peace  at  last  o'er  horrid  war  held  sway 
On  her  won  field,  a  score  of  years  to-day, 

Where  to  her  champion  forth  a  white  flag  came. 

O  nation's  chief,  thine  eyes  have  seen  again 
A  whiter  flag  come  forth  to  summon  thee 

Than  that  pale  scarf  which  gleamed  above  war's  stain, 

To  parley  o'er  the  end  of  its  red  reign  — 
The  truce  of  God  that  sets  from  battle  free 

Thy  dauntless  soul,  and  thy  worn  life  from  pain." 

Lee  O.  Harris,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania 
(1839),  removed  to  the  State  in  1852,  and  was 
an  Indiana  soldier  in  the  Civil  War.  His  verse, 
as  collected  in  "Interludes"  (1893),  shows  little 
of  the  military  feeling,  but  is  strongly  domestic, 
a  forerunner  of  the  work  of  Mr.  Riley,  whose 
teacher  Mr.  Harris  had  been  at  Greenfield. 

Dan    L.    Paine,    an    Indianapolis    journalist 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  267 

(1830-1895),  possessed  a  sound  taste,  and  his 
occasional  pieces  were  well  executed.  He 
wrote  an  elegy  on  the  death  of  his  friend  and 
fellow-journalist,  George  C.  Harding,  which  is 
a  meditation  on  the  courage  of  such  spirits :  — 

"  On  Freedom's  heights  they  stand  as  sentinels, 

Brave  tropic  suns,  delve  in  earth's  deepest  caves, 
And  climb  the  ladder  of  the  parallels 
To  sleep  in  icy  graves." 

« 

Such  felicities  were  not  uncommon  with  him. 
He  was  the  friend  and  helpful  critic  of  all  the 
younger  Indiana  writers,  and  literary  reputa- 
tions have  been  created  from  slighter  talents 
than  his.  His  poems  were  collected  privately, 
under  the  title  "Club  Moss"  (1890). 

So  far  nearly  every  name  identified  with  the 
literary  impulse  in  Indiana  has  been  met  south 
of  a  line  drawn  across  the  State  at  Crawford  s- 
ville ;  but  Evaleen  Stein  carried  it  farther  north, 
to  Lafayette.  Miss  Stein's  verse  illustrates 
happily  the  growing  emancipation  of  the 
younger  generation  of  Western  poets  from 
bare  didacticism,  and  an  escape  from  the 
landscape  of  tradition.  She  finds  her  sub- 
jects in  nature,  and  draws  pictures  for  the 


268  THE  HOOSIERS 

pleasure  of  it,  and  not  with  the  expectation 
of  tacking  a  moral  to  the  frame.  Earnestness 
and  conviction  characterize  her  verses,  and 
there  is  often  a  kind  of  exultance  in  the  note 
when  she  sings  of  the  rough  hill  pastures  or  the 
marshes  and  bayous  that  invite  her  study.  She 
has  something  of  Thoreau's  genius  for  details, 
and  her  volume  "One  Way  to  the  Woods" 
(1897)  is  an  accurate  calendar  of  the  moods  of 
nature.  Her  work  marks  really  a  new  genera- 
tion, the  change  of  fashion,  and  the  passing  of 
the  ante-bellum  poets  of  the  region.  Twenty 
years  earlier  no  Ohio  Valley  poet  would  have 
explored  a  bayou,  or  could  have  written  of  it 
so  musically  as  Miss  Stein :  — 

"  Ah,  surely  none  would  ever  guess 
That  through  that  tangled  wilderness, 

Through  those  far  forest  depths  remote, 
Lay  any  smallest  path,  much  less 

A  way  wherein  to  guide  a  boat  ! " 

A  small  volume  of  the  poems  of  M.  Gene- 
vieve  Todd  (1863-1896),  of  the  order  of  Sis- 
ters of  Providence,  was  published  after  her 
death.  They  are  wholly  devotional,  and  are 
marked  by  elevation  of  spirit  wedded  to  cor- 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  269 

rect  taste.  Sister  Mary  Genevieve  was  born 
at  Vevay,  of  Protestant  parents,  and  died  at 
the  convent  of  St.  Mary's  of  the  Woods  near 
Terre  Haute.  Albion  Fellows  Bacon,  Mrs. 
D.  M.  Jordan,  Richard  Lew  Dawson,  and  Will- 
iam R.  Williams  have  also  been  creditable 
contributors  to  the  Hoosier  anthology. 

Indiana  offers,  on  the  whole,  a  fair  field  for 
poets.  The  prevailing  note  of  the  landscape 
is  tranquillity.  There  is  hardly  a  spot  in  the 
State  that  touches  the  imagination  with  a 
sense  of  power  or  grandeur,  and  yet  there 
are  countless  scenes  of  quiet  beauty.  The 
Wabash  gathers  breadth  and  grace  as  it  flows 
southward.  Long  curves  here  and  there  give 
to  the  eye  the  illusion  of  a  chain  of  lakes,  and 
the  river's  valley  is  a  rich  garden.  The  Tip- 
pecanoe  is  another  beautiful  river,  famous 
among  fishermen,  and  there  are  a  number 
of  charming  lakes  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  State.  The  Kankakee  tnars.h  was  long 
haunted  by  the  migrant  wild  birds,  and  in 
recent  years  a  wild  goose  was  found  there 
with  the  piece  of  an  Eskimo  arrow,  made  of 
reindeer  bone,  through  its  breast.  Poets  and 


2/0  THE  HOOSIERS 

novelists  have  found  inspiration  in  the  Kan- 
kakee.  Maurice  Thompson  and  Evaleen  Stein 
have  celebrated  the  region  in  song ;  and  there 
is  a  tradition  that  the  manuscript  of  "  Ben 
Hur"  visited  both  the  Kankakee  and  Lake 
Maxinkuckee  at  certain  crises  in  its  prepara- 
tion. The  possibilities  of  mixed  forests  are 
nowhere  more  happily  illustrated  than  in 
Indiana,  whether  in  the  earliest  wistful  days 
of  spring  or  in  the  full  glory  of  autumn. 
The  beech  and  the  elm,  the  maple,  the 
hickory  and  the  walnut,  and  the  humbler 
sassafras  and  pawpaw  are  companions  of  a 
royal  order  of  forestry,  from  which  the  syca- 
more— the  self -constituted  guardian  of  rivers 
and  creeks  —  is  excluded  by  nature's  decree 
confirmed  by  man's  preference.  The  variety 
of  cereals  that  may  be  grown  saves  the  tilled 
areas  from  monotony.  There  are  no  vast 
plains  of  corn  or  wheat  as  in  Kansas  or  the 
Dakotas,  but  the  corn  ripens  between  wheat 
stubble  on  one  hand,  and  green  pastures  or 
remnants  of  woodland  on  the  other.  The 
transitional  seasons  bring  more  of  delight  to 
the  senses  than  the  full  measure  of  winter 


AN  INDIANA  CHOIR  271 

and  summer,  and  have  for  the  observer  con- 
stant novelty  and  change.  There  are  quali- 
ties in  the  spring  of  the  Ohio  Valley  — 
qualities  of  sweetness  and  wistfulness  that 
are  peculiar  to  the  region ;  and  when  the 
winds  are  all  from  the  south,  and  the  win- 
ter wheat  is  brilliant  in  the  fields;  when  the 
sap  sings  beneath  the  rough  bark  of  the  old 
forest  trees,  and  the  young  orchards  are  a  blur 
of  pink  and  white,  spirits  are  abroad  there 
with  messages  for  the  sons  of  men. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  Lyman,  215. 
Ade,  George,  242. 
"Artemus  Ward,"  159. 

Bacon,  Albion  Fellows,  269. 
Bagehot,  Walter,  158,  178. 
Banta,  D.  D.,  75,  236. 
Baptists,  organized  first  church, 

67. 

Beales,  at  New  Harmony,  132. 
Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  18, 83, 250. 
Beecher,  Mrs.  H.  W.,  35,  56. 
"  Ben  Hur,"  how  written,  189, 193 ; 

Ms.  of,  270. 
Benjamin,  Park,  19. 
Bennett,  Emerson,  248. 
Bernard,  Duke  of  Saxe- Weimar, 

113.  "5- 

Biddle,  Horace  P.,  248,  251. 
Blackford,  Isaac,  22,  83. 
Blake  family,  18. 
Blake,  James,  83. 
Bolton,  Nathaniel,  253. 
Bolton,  Sarah  T.,  253. 
Boone,  Richard  G.,  234. 
Booth,  Newton,  16. 
Brook  Farm,  Robert  Owen  visits, 

123. 

Brookville,  12. 

Brotherton,  Alice  Williams,  13. 
Brown,  Admiral  George,  212. 
Brown,  Demarchus  C.,  242. 
Brown,  Paul,  at  New  Harmony, 
115, 119. 


Bull,  Ole,  19. 
Bush,  Rev.  George,  66. 
Butler  College,  26,  82,  95,  228. 
Butler,  John  M.,  179. 
Butler,  John  Maurice,  179. 
Butler,  Noble,  16,  251. 
Butler,  Noble  C.,  251. 
Butler,  Ovid,  82. 

Cambridge,  13. 

Campbell,  Alexander,  123,  238. 
Carleton,  Emma,  243. 
Carleton,  Will,  172. 
Carrington,  H.  B.,  179. 
Cartwright,  Peter,  67. 
Catherwood,  Mary  Hartwell,  215. 
Centerville,  12. 
Century  Magazine ;  14. 
Channing,  W.  E.,  248. 
Channing,  W.  H.,  248. 
Chase,  W.  M.,  12. 
Child,  Lydia  Maria,  227. 
Chitwood,  Mary  L.,  248,  252. 
"  Christian  Endeavor,"  origin  of 

name,  144. 

Civil  Service  Chronicle,  26. 
Clark,  George  Rogers,  4,  5. 
Clarke,  James  Freeman,  248. 
Coburn,  John,  83. 
Coe  family,  18. 

Coggeshall,  WT.  T.,  245,  250,  251. 
Corydon,  n,  94. 

Costume  at  New  Harmony,  113. 
Cox,  Millard,  222. 


273 


2/4 


INDEX 


Cox,  Sandford  C.,  36. 
Craig,  George,  134. 
Cranch,  C.  P.,  248. 
Crawfordsville,  8,  177,  267. 
Cutter,  George  W.,  252. 

Dale,  David,  102. 
D'Arusmont,  Phiquepal,  105, 114. 
Dawson,  Richard  Lew,  269. 
Dennis,  Charles,  28. 
DePauw  University,  68,  77. 
Dillon,  John  B.,  231,  249. 
Dooley,  A.  H.,  237. 
Dransfields,  at  New   Harmony, 

132- 
Dufour,  Mrs.  A.  L.  Ruter,  248, 

251. 
Dumont,   Mrs.  Julia   L.,  89-94, 

247,  248. 

Duncan,  Robert,  181. 
Dunn,  Jacob  P.,  232. 
Dyer,  Rev.  Sidney,  250. 

Eads,  James  B.,  12. 

Earlham  College,  77. 

Eaton,  Arthur  Wentworth,  215. 

Edson,  Helen  Rockwood,  241. 

Egan,  Maurice  Francis,  215. 

Eggleston,  Edward,  8,  17,  51,  79, 

89-  91,  I33-I5S.  225. 
Eggleston,  George  Gary,  134, 224. 
Eggleston,  Guilford,  138. 
Eggleston,  Joseph  Gary,  134,  137, 

139- 

Eggleston,  Miles,  138,  236. 
Ellsworth,  Henry  W.,  251. 
Emerson,  R.  W.,  248,  263. 
English,  William  H.,  235. 
Episcopalians,  early  difficulties 

of,  65. 
Everett,  Edward,  19. 


Fauntleroys,  at   New   Harmony 

132. 

Feiba  Peveli,  in,  112,  122. 
Fellenberg,  102,  124. 
Field,  Eugene,  172. 
Finley,  John,  29,  34. 
Fishback,  W.  P.,  242. 
Fiske,  John,  8. 
Fletcher,  Calvin,  83. 
Fletcher  family,  18. 
Fletcher,  Julia  C.,  216. 
Fletcher,  Rev.  J.  C.,  216. 
Flower,  Richard,  101. 
Flowers  in  churches,  63. 
Fort  Wayne,  13. 

Foulke,  William  Dudley,  26, 229. 
Franklin  College,  26,  77. 
Fretageot,  Achilles,  105. 
Fretageot,  Madame,  115,  132. 
Fuller,  Hector,  242. 
Furman,  Lucy  S.,  216. 

Gallatin,  Albert,  71. 

Garland,  Hamlin,  172. 

Gillilan,  S.  W.,  243. 

Gilmore,   James   R.  ("  Edmund 

Kirke  "),  257,  260,  263. 
Goode,  Frances  E.,  155. 
Goodwin,  Rev.  T.  A.,  35. 
Gordon,  Jonathan  W.,  251. 

Hadley,  John  V.,  53. 
Halford,  E.  W.,  237. 
Hall,  Bayard  Rush,  73. 
Hanover  College,  77. 
Harding,  George  C.,  240,  267. 
Harney,  W.  W.,  250. 
Harper,  Ida  Husted,  241. 
Harris,  Leo  O.,  157,  266. 
Harrison,  Benjamin,  4,  243. 
Harrison,  Christopher,  16. 


INDEX 


2/5 


Harrison,  W.  H.,  4,  67,  71. 
Havens,  Rev.  James,  67. 
Hay,  John,  16. 
Hayes,  Lewis  D.,  237. 
Hayes,  President,  190. 
Henderson,  Rev.  C.  R.,  241. 
Hendricks,  William,  76. 
Henodelphisterian  Society,  75. 
Higginson,  T.  W.,  157. 
Holland,  J.  G.,  19. 
Holliday  family,  18. 
Holliday,  John  H.,  26,  237. 
Holliday,  Rev.  F.  C.,  65. 
Holman,  Jesse  L.,  76. 
Holmes,  O.  W.,  260,  263. 
"  Hoosier  Athens,"  177. 
Hoosier  dialect,  45-62,  152,  163. 
Hoosier  Fiddle,  41. 
Hoosier,  origin  of  word,  29-36. 
"  Hoosier  Schoolmaster,"  145. 
Hoosierdom,  extent  of,  151. 
Hoshour,  Samuel  K.,  96,  181. 
House,  Ben  D.,  265. 
Hovey,  Edmund  O.,  80. 
Howard,  Tilghman  A.,  35. 
Howe,  Daniel  Wait,  234. 
Howells,  W.  D.,  246. 
Howland,  John  D.,  12. 
Howland,  Livingston,  12. 
Howland,  Louis,  26,  237. 

Indiana  :  relation  to  national  life, 
3-5  ;  slavery  in,  5  ;  foreign  and 
native  element,  n;  political 
preferences,  26;  pioneers,  36, 
39 ;  religious  influences,  65-69 ; 
education  in,  70;  illiteracy  in, 
81,  87;  early  poets,  245;  land- 
scape of,  36,  219,  269. 

Indiana  University,  26,  73-76. 

Indianapolis,  17-20. 


Indianapolis  Literary  Club,  19. 
Ingersoll,  Robert  G.,  189. 

James,  G.  P.  R.,  181. 
Jennings,  Governor,  22. 
Jewett,  Milo  Parker,  80. 
Johnson,  Robert  Underwood,  13. 
Jordan,  David  S.,  78. 
Jordan,  Mrs.  D.  M.,  269. 
Judah,  Mary  Jameson,  221. 
Julian,  George  W.,  226,  251. 
Julian,  Isaac  H.,  248,  251. 

Ketcham,  W.  A.,  44. 
Keenan,  Henry  F.,  215. 
Krout,  Caroline  V.,  212. 
Krout,  Mary  H.,  212. 

Lafayette,  14,  267. 
Lane,  Henry  S.,  180. 
Lee,  John,  202. 
Lehmanowski,  Colonel,  32. 
Lesueur,  Charles  A.,  104,  106. 
Lewis,  Allen,  26. 
Lewis,  Charles  S.,  26. 
Lincoln,  Abraham,  38,  125,  152. 
Lodge,  Harriett  Newell,  241. 
Longfellow,  H.  W.,  258,  263. 
Lowell,  J.  R.,  160,  172,  263. 
Lynching,  43. 

Maclure,  William,  104,  105,  115, 

129. 

McCulloch,  Hugh,  14. 
McCutcheon,  John  T.,  242. 
McDonald,  Joseph  E.,  179. 
McGinnis,  Gen.  George  F.,  184. 
Macluria,  in,  112,  122. 
Macdonald,  Donald,  105,  107. 
Madison,  n,  155. 
Major,  Charles,  223. 


2/6 


INDEX 


"  Mark  Twain,"  164. 
Martindale,  E.  B.,  160. 
Mason,  A.  L.,  242. 
Matthews,  Claude,  21. 
Matthews,  G.  C.,  237. 
Matthews,  James  Newton,  215. 
Meredith,  Solomon,  83. 
Merrill  family,  18. 
Merrill,  Miss  Catharine,  94. 
Merrill,  Samuel,  94. 
Militia,  early,  39. 
Miller,  Joaquin,  215. 
Millerites,  148. 
Mills,  Caleb,  79,  80,  85-88. 
Moody,  Martha  Livingstone,  241. 
Morris  family,  18. 
Morrison,  John  I.,  16. 
Morton,  Oliver  P.,  22,  229. 
Morton,  Oliver  T.,  26,  229. 
Mount,  James  A.,  21. 
Murphy,  Dr.  Edward,  130. 

Nadal,  E.  S.,  204,  216. 

Nadal,  Rev.  Bernard  H.,  216. 

Nashoba,  105. 

Neef,  Joseph,  105,  106. 

Neef,  Madame,  115. 

Nelson,  Thomas  H.,  15. 

New  Albany,  140,  143,  256,  257, 

258,  259. 

New  Harmony,  21,  98-132. 
New  Harmony  Disseminator,  128. 
New  Harmony  Gazette,  in,  118, 

128. 

Nicholas,  Anna,  220,  237. 
Nichols,   Rebecca   S.,   248,   250, 

252. 

Noble,  Harriet,  241. 
North  Carolina,  influence  of,  in 

dialect,  52. 
Notre  Dame  University,  77,  215. 


Oliphant,  Laurence,  126. 
Owen,  David  Dale,  126. 
Owen,  Richard,  127. 
Owen,  Robert,  99,  101,  103,  104, 

no,  115,  121,  122,  123, 124, 131. 
Owen,  Robert  Dale,  24,  76,  104, 

in,  114,  124,  125. 
Owen,  William,  104,  128. 

Paine,  Dan  L.,  267. 

Parker,  Benj.  S.,  56,  249,  254,  265. 

Parker,  Theodore,  19. 

Peabody,  Rev.  Ephraim,  248. 

Pestalozzi,  102,  107. 

Piatt,  John  James,  215,  246,  256, 

258,  260. 

Pioneers,  books  of,  38. 
Poe,  Edgar  A.,  261. 
Poetry,   characteristics    of   early 

Western,  244. 
"  Poor  Whites,"  8,  44. 
Posey,  Thomas,  21. 
Prentice,   George    D.,  246,  247, 

253- 

Protestantism,     phases     of,     in 
Indiana,  64. 

Rabb,  Kate  Milner,  241. 

Ralston,  Alexander,  17. 

Rapp,  George,  98-101. 

Rariden,  James,  236. 

Ray  family,  18. 

Reed,  Peter  Fishe,  249. 

Reeves,  Arthur  M.,  230. 

Reid,  Whitelaw,  185. 

Richmond,  13. 

Ridpath,  John  Clark,  233. 

Riley,  James  Whitcomb,  27,  42, 

49,  57,  133-  156-176,  217. 
Riley,  Reuben  A.,  157. 
Ross,  Morris,  273. 


INDEX 


277 


Salem,  16,  17. 

Say,  Thomas,  104,  106,  115,  128. 
Scotch-Irish,  7,  51,  65. 
Sharpe  family,  18. 
Smith,  Elizabeth  Conwell  (Will- 
son),  257. 

Smith,  O.  H.,  31,  83,  236. 
Smith,  Roswell,  14. 
Sorin,  Father,  64. 
Stein,  Evaleen,  267,  270. 
Stevenson,  R.  D.,  243. 
Stoddard,  Charles  Warren,  215. 
Sulgrove,  Berry,  15,  49,  181,  237. 
Sullivan,  Jeremiah,  17. 
Swift,  Lucius  B.,  26. 

Tarkington,  Booth,  217-221. 
Taylor,  Bayard,  19. 
Taylor,  Dr.  H.  W.,  40,  58. 
Teal,  Angelina,  241. 
Terre  Haute,  14,  215. 
Terrell,  Rev.  William,  140. 
Test,  John,  180,  236. 
Thomas,  Edith  M.,  159. 
Thompson,  Maurice,  27, 199-211, 

270. 
Thompson,  Richard  W.,  14,  76, 

83- 

Thompson,  Will  H.,  202,  211. 
Thurston,  Laura  M.,  252. 
Todd,  M.  Genevieve,  268. 
Troost,  Gerard,  105,  106,  115. 
Turtle,  Joseph  F.,  80. 

Unitarians,  in  Ohio  Valley,  248. 
Upfold,  Bishop,  63. 

Venable,  W.  H.,  249. 
Very,  Jones,  248. 


Vevay,  89,  134. 
Vickroy,  Louise  E.,  249. 
Vincennes,  5,  n. 
Vincennes  University,  72. 
Voorhees,  Daniel  W.,  15. 

Wabash  College,  77,  80,  88,  178, 

211. 

Wallace,  David,  22,  76,  180,  236. 

Wallace,  General  Lew,  22,  56, 
180-199,  261. 

Wallace,  Mrs.  Lew,  198. 

Wallace,  William  Ross,  250. 

Warren,  Josiah,  129. 

Wheatcrofts,  at  New  Harmony, 
132. 

Whitcomb,  Governor,  22. 

Whitecaps,  43. 

Whitwell,  Stedman,  105. 

Wickersham,  James  A.,  222. 

Willard,  Governor,  22. 

Williams,  Charles  R.,  237,  242. 

Williams,  Henry  M.,  26. 

Williams,  James  D.,  20. 

Williams,  Jesse  Lynch,  14. 

Williams,  W.  R.,  269. 

Willson,  Forceythe,  256-264. 

Wilson,  W.  L.,  243. 

Wilstach,  J.  A.,  241. 

Woodlands,  influence  of  on  pio- 
neers, 36. 

Woods,  Rev.  Aaron,  33. 

Woollen,  William  Wesley,  236. 

Wright,  Frances  (D'Arusmont), 
105,  124. 

Wright,  Joseph  A.,  22,  31. 

Yandes  family,  18. 


NATIONAL  STUDIES   IN   AMERI- 
CAN  LETTERS 


Old  Cambridge 

BY 

THOMAS  WENTWORTH  HIGGINSON 
Cloth.     12mo.     Price  $1.25 


"...  Some  charmingly  reminiscent  pages,  having  for  their  sub- 
ject the  three  authors  most  widely  associated  with  Old  Cambridge,  — 
Holmes,  Longfellow,  and  Lowell ;  and  their  pleasant  gossip  makes 
up  the  major  part  of  the  volume,  which  is  altogether  a  most  enjoya- 
ble and  valuable  one."  —  Philadelphia  Evening  Telegraph. 

"  It  is  just  the  sort  of  book  that  one  would  expect  from  the  author, 
graceful  in  form,  abounding  in  the  genuine  atmosphere  of  the  old 
university  town,  full  of  pleasant  personal  anecdotes  and  reminis- 
cences of  the  Cambridge  of  forty  or  fifty  years  ago.  Many  great 
figures  pass  across  the  stage,  with  nearly  all  of  whom  Colonel  Hig- 
ginson  was  personally  acquainted ;  and  this  intimacy  gives  the  book 
a  charming  flavor."  —  Brooklyn  Life. 

"  The  book  contains  material  to  be  had  nowhere  else,  for  it  is  a 
commentary  on  the  side  history  of  a  great  epoch  in  American  letters, 
written  by  one  who  had  a  place  in  it." — San  Francisco  Argonaut. 

"  What  he  has  to  tell  will  be  interesting  to  every  person  who  honors 
New  England  and  sets  store  by  her  literature.  The  book  is  steeped 
in  the  Attic  dew  of  which  the  Cambridge  cicadas  were  fond ;  it  has 
a  smack  of  ambrosia,  —  American  ambrosia,  —  and  its  leaves  rustle 
with  the  unmistakable  Parnassian  suggestion  —  a  Puritan  Parnassus 
to  be  sure.  .  .  .  The  Cambridge  he  dwells  upon  is  the  Cambridge 
of  the  Boston  circle  of  poets,  philosophers,  politicians,  reformers, 
scholars,  statesmen,  preachers,  and  divine  cranks.  He  sketches 
everything  and  everybody  freely,  swiftly,  and  lightly."  —  Independent. 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


Brook  Farm 

ITS  MEMBERS,    SCHOLARS,   AND    VISITORS 

By  LINDSAY  SWIFT 
Cloth.     16mo.    Price  $1.25 


CONTENTS 

THE  TRANSCENDENTAL  CLUB  —  BROOK  FARM  —  THE 
SCHOOL  AND  ITS  SCHOLARS  —  THE  MEMBERS  —  THE 
VISITORS  —  THE  CLOSING  PERIOD  —  BIBLIOGRAPHY  — 
INDEX 

"Mr.  Swift  .  .  .  deals  with  the  experimenters  rather 
than  with  the  experiments  .  .  .  and  with  the  influence  of 
the  life  at  Brook  Farm  upon  the  individuality  of  its  mem- 
bers." —  The  Mail  and  Express. 

"  Mr.  Lindsay  Swift  takes  up  and  describes  very  amply 
the  most  romantic,  interesting,  and  far-reaching  movement 
in  the  history  of  American  literature  —  the  story  of  Brook 
Farm."  —  Times  Saturday  Review. 

"The  book  has  a  value  apart  from  its  delineation  of 
Brook  Farm.  ...  It  ought  to  be  widely  and  carefully 
read,  especially  where  .  .  .  socialistic  notions  are  gaining 
many  adherents,  for  it  will  aid  the  young  enthusiast  to  de- 
fine what  may  be  and  what  cannot  be  for  a  very  long 
century  at  least."  —  The  Outlook. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 
66  FIFTH  AVENUE,   NEW  YORK 


I 


21038 


